Awareness of anti-cancer vaccines among Asian American women with limited English proficiency: An opportunity for improved public health communication

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Asian Americans suffer from liver and cervical cancer disparities, both preventable by vaccines. Cancer vaccine awareness in this group has not been described. A survey was conducted in English and 7 Asian languages, crafted to determine awareness of cancer vaccines and knowledge of their targets (n=380 women age 18+, 20% able to speak English well/very well). Among the 34% reporting awareness of cancer vaccines, those with limited English proficiency were less likely to have accurate knowledge of a vaccine against cervical cancer (44 vs 76%); meanwhile, they were more likely to incorrectly believe that vaccines could prevent cancers for which there is no prevention vaccine. Knowledge that liver cancer is vaccine-preventable was low overall. This is the first report on awareness of cervical and liver cancer preventive vaccines in a diverse sample of Asian American women. Public health communication efforts should address knowledge of cancer preventive vaccines among linguistically isolated at-risk communities.