Distributing pro-COVID-19 vaccination information in English and Spanish in emergency departments (EDs) increases the likelihood that patients will choose to be vaccinated, according to research led by Robert M. Rodriguez, MD, in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The team of researchers conducted a cluster-randomized, controlled trial in seven EDs across the country, and found that COVID-19 vaccination messaging resulted in significantly greater vaccine acceptance and uptake within 30 days, particularly among Latinx persons and study participants without primary care physicians.
“Our effect sizes were higher than any other published intervention to promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in underserved populations,” said Dr. Rodriguez. He is the lead author of the study, published Dec. 22, 2022. Dr. Rodriguez is a professor of emergency medicine at UCSF and co-author of the forthcoming book, Lessons from the COVID War.