Utilizing Wastewater Surveillance Data in a Communications Campaign to Boost Vaccination Uptake in New York State: a Comparison-control Trial

The goal of the study is to determine the effect of a communications campaign sharing wastewater surveillance data to influence vaccine uptake in a metropolitan and non-metropolitan environment. The study will be conducted in Onondaga and Cayuga counties in New York State. Individuals of all ages within the selected counties, located in metropolitan and non-metropolitan environments will receive the intervention. The evaluation study design is a comparison-control trial. The primary outcome measure is the proportion of vaccine-eligible individuals in the county that received the COVID-19 vaccine stratified by type of vaccine dosage and age group. Vaccination data will be aggregated to the county by the State Department of Health and shared with the research team. Wastewater data will be pulled from the wastewater surveillance network. A difference in differences analysis will be used to estimate the effect of the intervention on both the outcomes between intervention and comparison groups following the intervention, while adjusting for potential confounding factors.