Objective  To examine the knowledge about human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV vaccine in parents of girls aged 9 – 14 years in Hangzhou city and the parents′ willingness for their children′s vaccination of HPV vaccine.

  Methods  Using stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling, we carried out a questionnaire survey among 740 parents of girls aged 9 – 14 years from July to October 2018. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were used in data analyses.

  Results  Totally 673 valid questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 90.95%. Of the respondents, 61.37% (413) and 61.37% (413) reported the awareness of HPV and HPV vaccine, but the scoring rates for the 5 domains of knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccine were all less than 50%. For all the respondents, 84.40% reported the willingness to have their children vaccinated with HPV vaccine and the willingness was influenced by domain knowledge about HPV (OR = 2.767, P < 0.001) and HPV vaccine (OR = 1.574, P = 0.035); the respondents with higher HPV and HPV vaccine knowledge were more likely to have the willingness of their children′s HPV vaccination.

  Conclusion  The parents of 9 – 14 years old girls in Hangzhou city have low scores of knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccine; the efficacy of medical institution/school/society-based health education on HPV and HPV vaccine is not as good as expected in the population.