Randomized Controlled Trial of Text Message Reminders for Increasing Influenza Vaccination

The Article in Brief

Randomized Controlled Trial of Text Message Reminders for Increasing Influenza Vaccination

Annette K. Regan , and colleagues

Background Although seasonal influenza vaccine is recommended for people at high risk of serious infection, they get the vaccine at low rates. This randomized controlled trial in Western Australia investigates the impact of text message reminders for influenza vaccination.

What This Study Found Text message reminders are a low-cost effective strategy for increasing rates of influenza vaccination. Among 12,354 eligible patients at high risk of serious influenza illness who had a mobile phone number on record in their medical practice, half were randomly assigned to an intervention group, which received a vaccination reminder by text message, while the other half (control group) received no text message reminder. Three months after the messages were sent, 12 percent (n=768) of the intervention group and 9 percent (n=548) of the control group were vaccinated during the study period. For every 29 messages sent, at a cost of $3.48 (USD), one additional high-risk patient was immunized. The greatest effect was observed for children under five years of age, whose parents were more than twice as likely to have their child vaccinated if they received a text reminder. There was no significant effect among pregnant women or Indigenous Australians.

Implications

• Several factors could influence the effectiveness of text message reminders including who sends the message, reliability of contact information, content of the message, and when it is sent. The authors call for future research to examine both costs and benefits of large scale text message influenza vaccination reminders for high-risk patients.