Peter Szilagyi of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial and found that personalized reminders created by primary care physicians for their patients, such as videos or postcards with their own photos, do not improve seasonal flu vaccination rates. The trial involved 21 primary care physicians from the UCLA Health system and their 22,233 patients (62.8 percent female) who were unvaccinated. All physicians recorded a video message, created a postcard with their photo, and randomly sent one-third of their patients one message, one-third another, and one-third nothing through a patient portal. The messages were sent up to three times in October, November, and December, and vaccination coverage was assessed through April 1 of the following year. The results were published in JAMA Network Open.
14.4 percent of patients were under 18 years of age (their parents or guardians received the messages); 66.1 percent were 18–64 years old; and 19.55 percent were 65 years and older. 84.9 percent had private health insurance. Overall seasonal influenza vaccination coverage was 48.0 percent in the video message group; 47.5 percent in the postcard group; and 46.9 percent in the no-message group (the difference was not statistically significant). Among children, however, active engagement slightly but significantly increased coverage: 58.4 percent for video messages (p < 0.001); 55.1 percent for postcards, and 54.5 percent for no videos or postcards (p = 0.04 compared with active interventions).
