Mobile vaccination units substantially increase COVID-19 vaccinations: evidence from a randomized controlled trial.
COVID-19
mobile vaccination units
randomized controlled trials
vaccine delivery strategy
Journal
Journal of public health (Oxford, England)
ISSN: 1741-3850
Titre abrégé: J Public Health (Oxf)
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101188638
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
20 Nov 2023
20 Nov 2023
Historique:
received:
29
08
2022
revised:
04
08
2023
accepted:
15
10
2023
medline:
21
11
2023
pubmed:
21
11
2023
entrez:
21
11
2023
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Governments around the world used mobile vaccination units (MVUs) to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake, but the causal effect of MVUs has not yet been evaluated. In a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 20 Swiss communities (10 treatment, 10 control) in August 2021, MVUs were sent to treatment communities for 4 hours on a single day. The experimental sample comprises 20 414 adults who were unvaccinated against COVID-19 at this point. The researchers designed the RCT and the government introduced the idea to test the effectiveness of MVUs and was responsible for administering the vaccines. The vaccination rate in the sample of the treatment group surpassed the rate in the control group by a factor of 3.4 (+9.0 percentage points) over 3 weeks. The increase was present and highly statistically significant for women, men and for all age groups. We found no evidence of cannibalization of vaccinations at other service locations. The offer of MVUs is highly effective in raising vaccination rates, even at a later point in the vaccination campaign. The absence of cannibalization effects suggests that MVUs reach more people overall, not just faster.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Governments around the world used mobile vaccination units (MVUs) to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake, but the causal effect of MVUs has not yet been evaluated.
METHODS
METHODS
In a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 20 Swiss communities (10 treatment, 10 control) in August 2021, MVUs were sent to treatment communities for 4 hours on a single day. The experimental sample comprises 20 414 adults who were unvaccinated against COVID-19 at this point. The researchers designed the RCT and the government introduced the idea to test the effectiveness of MVUs and was responsible for administering the vaccines.
RESULTS
RESULTS
The vaccination rate in the sample of the treatment group surpassed the rate in the control group by a factor of 3.4 (+9.0 percentage points) over 3 weeks. The increase was present and highly statistically significant for women, men and for all age groups. We found no evidence of cannibalization of vaccinations at other service locations.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
The offer of MVUs is highly effective in raising vaccination rates, even at a later point in the vaccination campaign. The absence of cannibalization effects suggests that MVUs reach more people overall, not just faster.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37986235
pii: 7434434
doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdad213
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.