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Lee YC, Lee BH, Lin YH, Wu BJ, Chen TJ, Chen WM, Chen YC. Enhancing COVID-19 booster vaccination among the elderly through text message reminders. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2024; 20:2375665. [PMID: 39016157 PMCID: PMC11259076 DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2024.2375665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 06/29/2024] [Indexed: 07/18/2024] Open
Abstract
The BOOST (Booster promotion for older outpatients using SMS text reminders) program at Taipei Veterans General Hospital assessed the effectiveness of text message reminders in enhancing COVID-19 booster vaccination rates among the elderly, guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM). Targeting patients aged 65 and above, eligible yet unvaccinated for a COVID-19 booster, this cohort study sent personalized reminders a week prior to their scheduled appointments between April 18, 2022, and May 12, 2022, acting as cues to action to enhance vaccination uptake by overcoming perceived barriers and raising awareness of benefits. Over 5 weeks, the study observed a 38% increase in vaccination rate among 3,500 eligible patients, markedly surpassing the concurrent national rate increase of 4% for the same demographic. The majority of vaccinations occurred within two weeks after the reminder, illustrating the effectiveness of the strategy. Cox regression analysis identified age and time since last vaccination as significant predictors of responsiveness, with those aged 65-74 and 75-84 showing higher uptake, particularly when reminders were sent within 4 months after the last dose. A single reminder proved to be effective. The findings of this study demonstrate the potential of SMS reminders to promote COVID-19 vaccination among the elderly through the strategic use of HBM principles, suggesting a feasible and effective approach to public health communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Cheng Lee
- Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Bing-Hau Lee
- Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Family Medicine, Camillian Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong, Yilan, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Hsuan Lin
- Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Bih-Ju Wu
- Department of Nursing, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Tzeng-Ji Chen
- Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Big Data Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Hsinchu Branch, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Wei-Ming Chen
- School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Orthopedics, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Chun Chen
- Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Big Data Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
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Masterson E, Anderson E, Savoia E. Interventions to Reduce COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Black and African American Individuals in the United States: A Systematic Literature Review. Vaccines (Basel) 2024; 12:959. [PMID: 39339991 PMCID: PMC11435803 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines12090959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2024] [Revised: 08/10/2024] [Accepted: 08/15/2024] [Indexed: 09/30/2024] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy had major implications for racial health equity at the beginning of the vaccination campaign in the U.S. Interventions to reduce vaccine hesitancy among Black and African American individuals partially helped to reduce vaccine hesitancy in specific communities. This article describes findings on interventions to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Black and African American individuals from a literature review we conducted. We found 12 studies that described communication, partnerships, and distribution interventions. Regarding communication, examples include a webinar hosted by an academic-community partnership team, information sessions, social media campaigns, educational materials, and virtual town halls. Effective partnerships identified through this literature review were a statewide alliance and one between an academic institution and faith and community leaders. Distribution interventions identified through the literature review were the deployment of multiple tactics to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake (virtual town halls, a confidential employee hotline, department huddles, written educational material, and accessible vaccination stations) and offering to administer the COVID-19 vaccine during medical appointments. The results of this review show that implementing interventions directed at specific minority groups improves COVID-19 vaccine acceptance without undermining overall vaccine distribution or uptake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelyn Masterson
- Emergency Preparedness Research Evaluation and Practice Program, Division of Policy Translation and Leadership Development, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Emma Anderson
- Emergency Preparedness Research Evaluation and Practice Program, Division of Policy Translation and Leadership Development, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Elena Savoia
- Emergency Preparedness Research Evaluation and Practice Program, Division of Policy Translation and Leadership Development, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Monzon R, Ornelas-Dorian C, Eucker SA, Rising K, O'Laughlin KN, Pauley A, Kean E, Geyer R, Lara Chavez C, Shughart L, Arreguin MI, Silverman E, Rodriguez RM. An evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine messaging platforms in the emergency department. Acad Emerg Med 2024. [PMID: 38706110 DOI: 10.1111/acem.14933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Rene Monzon
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | | | - Stephanie A Eucker
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Kristin Rising
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Kelli N O'Laughlin
- Department of Emergency Medicine and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Alena Pauley
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Efrat Kean
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Rachel Geyer
- Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Cecilia Lara Chavez
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Lindsey Shughart
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Mireya I Arreguin
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Emily Silverman
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Robert M Rodriguez
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
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Bucher A. The Patient Experience of the Future is Personalized: Using Technology to Scale an N of 1 Approach. J Patient Exp 2023; 10:23743735231167975. [PMID: 37051113 PMCID: PMC10084530 DOI: 10.1177/23743735231167975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Personalized experiences are more effective at creating sustained behavior change. Digitally enabled personalized outreach can improve patient’s experience by providing relevant, meaningful calls to action at a time when labor-intensive human-to-human personalization is challenged by systemic health staffing shortages. Strategic use of digital tools to engage patients and supplement human-to-human care scale personalization to the benefit of patient and provider experience. Specifically, digital personalization can support: Identification of patients eligible for a procedure, service, or outreach Engaging patients with a personalized call to action Augmenting care through the use of digital tools, and Monitoring patient progress over time to ensure continued support. The technology to support a more personalized patient experience includes infrastructure to consolidate rich data, an intelligence capability to identify candidates for each call to action, and an engagement layer that presents patients with personalized output. Steps to develop and execute a personalization strategy are provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Bucher
- Lirio, Behavioral Reinforcement Learning Lab (BReLL), Knoxville, TN, USA
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Moss E, Patterson NA, Seals BF. An Examination of US COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:15629. [PMID: 36497703 PMCID: PMC9738558 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192315629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
COVID-19 quickly spread across the United States (US) while communications and policies at all government levels suffered from inconsistency, misinformation, and lack of coordination. In order to explain the discrepancy between availability and population uptake, a case study was conducted analyzing vaccine rollout plans, social media, and Health Officer/Other Key Informant interviews in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Key research questions included, "What were the barriers and facilitators of early COVID vaccine distribution?" and "What mechanisms in the community emerged to alleviate strains in early vaccination?" Findings from this study revealed that pre-existing emergency preparedness infrastructures and plans developed since the 9/11 tragedy were seemingly abandoned. This caused health departments at all levels of government to make impromptu, non-uniform decisions leading to confusion, vaccine hesitancy, and ultimately low uptake. The results indicate that future vaccine rollout best practices must include evidence-based decision-making, coordinated communications, and outreach to high-priority and vulnerable communities.
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Silesky MD, Panchal D, Fields M, Peña AS, Diez M, Magdaleno A, Frausto-Rodriguez P, Bonnevie E. A Multifaceted Campaign to Combat COVID-19 Misinformation in the Hispanic Community. J Community Health 2022; 48:286-294. [PMID: 36399238 PMCID: PMC9673890 DOI: 10.1007/s10900-022-01170-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Good Projects, Hispanic Communications Network and World Voices Media joined forces to launch a nationwide, multifaceted campaign which aimed to increase vaccine confidence and decrease misinformation on social media within Hispanic communities. We created a Spanish vaccine misinformation tracking system to detect and assess misinformation circulating in online Spanish conversations. We used our media monitoring findings to work with Hispanic social media (SM) influencers, volunteers, and celebrities to spread pro-vaccine messaging online. We created misinformation-responsive SM assets, newsletters, talking points and trainings for Hispanic-serving community-based organizations (CBOs) to help them respond to misinformation and increase vaccine uptake. We used our misinformation findings to inform the creation of mass media communications such as radio PSAs and op-eds. In Year 1, our new Spanish monitoring system captured and organized 35 M Spanish and 212.7 M English posts about COVID-19 misinformation. We recruited 496 paid influencers, 2 Hispanic celebrities and 1,034 digital volunteers. We sent 70 newsletters to an average of 1539 CBO subscribers, containing 206 talking points and 344 resources (SM assets, toolkits, videos) in English and Spanish to support their outreach. Our radio PSAs reached 26.9 M people and the op-eds reached 2.9 M people. This project shows the proliferation of misinformation circulating in online Spanish conversations. It also shows we were effective at reaching our target audience with fact-based COVID-19 misinformation prebunk and debunk messaging.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Darshana Panchal
- Public Good Projects, 2308 Mt Vernon Ave, Suite 758, Alexandria, VA 22301 USA
| | - Megan Fields
- grid.474959.20000 0004 0528 628XCDC Foundation, Atlanta, GA USA
| | | | - Mariana Diez
- Hispanic Communications Network, Washington, DC USA
| | | | | | - Erika Bonnevie
- Public Good Projects, 2308 Mt Vernon Ave, Suite 758, Alexandria, VA 22301 USA
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Adherence to Herpes Zoster (Shingles) Catch-Up Campaign at the Romagna Local Health Authority (Italy), a Multi-Center Retrospective Observational Study. Vaccines (Basel) 2022; 10:vaccines10101770. [PMID: 36298636 PMCID: PMC9611813 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10101770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 10/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Herpes Zoster (shingles) is an infection that occurs when varicella-zoster virus reactivates from the latent state. Incidence and severity of Herpes Zoster disease increase with age. Antiviral drugs are the elective treatment; however, prevention of disease reactivation through effective and safe vaccines is available in Italy out-of-pocket from age 65 onwards. The Romagna Local Health Authority (northern Italy) administered catch-up vaccinations in March–May 2022 for immunizations not performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, adherence rates to the catch-up campaign and recall activities adopted in two centers were investigated. The uptakes for only the catch-up vaccinations were 11.4% and 12.4%. Having suffered from Herpes Zoster or having family members who suffered from it would not seem to be drivers of increased uptake. Although sending text-messages to all involved patients was the main motivation for vaccine uptake (85.7–95.1%), word of mouth and web/news advertising also contributed to adoption in Center No. 2. In both centers, the need for greater synergy between public health departments and general practitioners to engage their patients emerged, as did the need for additional recall measures. Studying the main drivers of vaccine hesitancy, especially at the local level, can help in targeting campaigns and catch-up activities in order to achieve widespread acceptance.
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