Web-based tailored messages do not increase infant vaccination rates

(HealthDay)—Delivering web-based vaccine messages tailored to parents’ vaccine beliefs and values does not improve uptake of infant vaccinations, according to a study published online Oct. 12 in Pediatrics.

Jason M. Glanz, Ph.D., from Kaiser Permanente Colorado in Denver, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial between April 2016 and June 2019. A total of 824 pregnant women and new parents were randomly assigned to the web-based “Vaccines and Your Baby” (VAYB) intervention that provided new parents with vaccine information messages tailored to vaccine beliefs and values, an untailored version of the intervention (UT), or usual care (UC; 276, 274, and 274, respectively).

The researchers found up-to-date vaccination rates of 91.44, 92.86, and 92.31 percent in the VAYB, UT, and UC arms, respectively. The likelihood of being up to date on vaccinations was no higher for infants in the VAYB arm than those in the UC arm (odds ratio, 0.89; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.45 to 1.76) or the UT arm (odds ratio, 0.82; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.42 to 1.63). There was no difference between the UT and UC arms in the likelihood of being up to date (odds ratio, 1.08; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.54 to 2.18).

“Given that vaccine hesitancy remains a significant public health issue, researchers should continue to develop and test communication approaches to reduce parental vaccination concerns and improve the timely uptake of infant immunizations,” the authors write.

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