In the first 10 months of availability, COVID-19 vaccines prevented around 235,000 deaths and 1.6 million hospitalizations in the U.S.
However, by April 2023, 19% of Americans still hadn't received their first vaccine dose and 65% hadn't completed all recommended boosters, leading to tens of thousands of preventable deaths. With annual booster recommendations likely, increasing booster uptake is essential to prevent future hospitalizations and deaths. New research led by Katy Milkman of the University of Pennsylvania looks at the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
"For our megastudy, we teamed up with CVS and we purchased rides from Lyft to see if reducing the friction associated with getting to and from a vaccine appointment could make a difference," says Milkman, the James G. Dinan Professor at Penn's Wharton School and co-director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative at Penn, where this research was conducted. "And to our surprise, there was no added benefit of the free transportation over and above sending a reminder.
" The study , published in the journal Nature , involved a massive field experiment including 3.66 million CVS pharmacy patients who had previously received their primary COVID-19 vaccination series. Participants received different types of text reminders encouraging them to get their recommended COVID-19 booster, with some also being offered free round-trip Lyft rides to their vaccination appointments.
Despite high expectations from both behavio.