What Works to Get the Elderly Vaccinated Against COVID-19? Experimental Evidence From India
Not Applicable
Completed
- Conditions
- AgingCovid19
- Interventions
- Behavioral: InformationBehavioral: BuddyBehavioral: Gossip interventionBehavioral: Information assigned in communityBehavioral: Buddy assigned in community
- Registration Number
- NCT04870593
- Lead Sponsor
- National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Brief Summary
COVID-19 poses a substantial risk to elderly populations; understanding how to get elders vaccinated against the virus is therefore a policy priority. An experiment with elders in Tamil Nadu, India will be used to evaluate interventions policymakers might use to raise vaccination rates amongst the elderly. The particular interventions being tested are: calling elders to inform them about vaccination; encouragement of a "buddy system," whereby elders are accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine; and seeding vaccination information with "gossips," individuals who elders identify as being good at spreading information in the elders' communities. The interventions are phone-based, and can be implemented quickly and at low cost. This makes them promising strategies the Tamil Nadu government and other governments could use to vaccinate elderly populations against COVID-19.
- Detailed Description
Not available
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 3006
Inclusion Criteria
- At least 55 years of age
- Has phone number
Exclusion Criteria
- Not part of the experiments registered under protocol IDs 223749 or 172020
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (1)) Buddy (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. (iii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders and to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated. Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (1)) Gossip intervention (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. (iii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders and to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated. Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (1)) Information (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. (iii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders and to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated. Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (2)) Gossip intervention Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (1). Community receives gossip treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (4)) Gossip intervention Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (3). Community receives gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (3)) Information assigned in community (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders. Community receives buddy treatment, individual informed directly (arm (5)) Information (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. Community receives buddy treatment, individual informed directly (arm (5)) Buddy (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (2)) Buddy assigned in community Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (1). Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (1)) Buddy assigned in community (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. (iii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders and to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated. Community receives gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (3)) Information (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders. Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (1)) Information assigned in community (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. (iii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders and to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated. Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (2)) Information assigned in community Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (1). Community receives gossip treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (4)) Information assigned in community Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (3). Community receives buddy treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (6)) Buddy assigned in community Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (5). Community receives information, individual not informed directly (arm (8)) Information assigned in community Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (7). Community receives gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (3)) Gossip intervention (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders. Community receives buddy treatment, individual informed directly (arm (5)) Buddy assigned in community (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. Community receives information, individual informed directly (arm (7)) Information Individual elder given vaccination information. Community receives buddy treatment, individual informed directly (arm (5)) Information assigned in community (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. Community receives information, individual informed directly (arm (7)) Information assigned in community Individual elder given vaccination information. Community receives buddy treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (6)) Information assigned in community Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (5).
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Received at least one shot 8 weeks after intervention Elders asked on phone call if they have received zero, one, or two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Outcome takes the value of 1 if they received at least one shot, and 0 otherwise.
Received two shots 8 weeks after intervention Elders asked on phone call if they have received zero, one, or two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Outcome takes the value of 1 if they received two shots, and 0 otherwise.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
JPAL SA at IFMR
🇮🇳Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India