Annenberg Public Policy Center
Patients hazy on which STIs have vaccines
Clinical takeaway: Adults broadly understand how STIs are transmitted but are often unsure which infections are preventable with vaccination. Take opportunities to confirm which STIs are vaccine-preventable and which are not.
Vaccines sit alongside condoms, screening, and treatment in the STI prevention toolkit, but they only work if patients know they exist. Prevention efforts still have considerable ground to cover with combined U.S. case counts for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis topping 2.2 million in 2024 and rates still about 13% above where they sat a decade ago. This survey looked at where public understanding of STI vaccines holds up and where it continues to fall short.
More than two-thirds (68%) knew that an HPV vaccine exists, according to an Annenberg survey of 1,639 U.S. adults. Awareness of the mpox vaccine was lower at 42% despite CDC recommendations that at-risk groups be vaccinated. For STIs without vaccines, majorities were either unsure or wrongly believed one existed.
Transmission knowledge held up better. Over 90% identified vaginal sex, anal sex, and genital-to-genital contact as routes. Awareness that HPV is sexually transmitted rose six points to 75%. But only 35% knew mpox can be sexually transmitted, and just 13% knew the same about Zika. About 1 in 5 wrongly cited toilet seats as a transmission route.
One misconception moved in the wrong direction: 14% endorsed the unfounded claim that the HPV vaccine encourages teens to engage in risky sexual behavior, up from 10% in 2024.
Patients often do not know which STIs are vaccine-preventable, and that matters most for HPV, which can cause cervical and other cancers, and for mpox, where pre-exposure vaccination can prevent infection in at-risk groups. Persistent HPV vaccine myths may also need to be addressed directly with patients.
"Public understanding improves when accurate health information reaches people clearly and consistently," said Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. "But these findings show continuing gaps in awareness about diseases which can be sexually transmitted such as HPV, mpox, and Zika."
Source: Annenberg Public Policy Center. 2026 May 21. Survey highlights persistent uncertainty on STI vaccines