Do social media interventions increase vaccine uptake?
Francesca Maria Grosso, Maria Elisabetta Baldassarre, Roberto Grosso, Federica Di Mauro, Chiara Greco, Silvia Greco, Nicola Laforgia, Antonio Di Mauro
Author Information
Francesca Maria Grosso: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Postgraduate School of Public Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Maria Elisabetta Baldassarre: Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Aldo Moro University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
Roberto Grosso: Pediatric Primary Care, National Pediatric Health Care System, Bari, Italy.
Federica Di Mauro: Department of Prevention, Local Health Authority of Bari, Bari, Italy.
Chiara Greco: Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, Hygiene and Preventive Medicine (Public Health), Aldo Moro University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
Silvia Greco: Department of Pediatrics, Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti and Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
Nicola Laforgia: Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Aldo Moro University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
Antonio Di Mauro: Pediatric Primary Care, National Pediatric Health Care System, Margherita di Savoia, Barletta-Andria-Trani, Italy.
Introduction: The Italian mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign has included children aged 5-11 years as part of the target population since December 2021. One of the biggest challenges to vaccine uptake was vaccine hesitancy among parents and children's caregivers. Primary care pediatricians (PCPs), as the first point of contact between the National Health Service (NHS) and parents/caretakers, initiated various communication strategies to tackle this hesitancy. This study aims to evaluate the impact of a PCP-led social media intervention and a digital reminder service (DRS) on parental hesitancy regarding vaccinating their 5-11-year-old children against COVID-19. Methods: A prospective cohort study was designed, and the chosen target populations were parents and caretakers of children aged 5-11 years. Two PCP cohorts were recruited. The first group received a social media intervention and a DRS; while the second group did not. Both cohorts had access to traditional face-to-face and telephone-based counseling. The vaccination coverage rate in the two groups was evaluated. Results: A total of 600 children were enrolled. The exposed cohort (277 patients) received social media intervention, DRS, and counseling options (face-to-face and telephone-based), whereas the non-exposed cohort (323 patients) received only counseling options. In total, 89 patients from the exposed cohort did not receive any dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (32.5%), 165 were fully immunized (59.5%), and 23 received only one dose (8.5%). A total of 150 non-exposed patients did not receive any dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (47%), 147 were fully immunized (45.5%), and 24 only received one dose (7.4%). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (chi square = 11.5016; = 0.0006). Conclusion: Social media and DRS interventions had a positive impact on vaccine uptake and may be helpful in tackling vaccine hesitancy. Better-designed studies are needed to corroborate these findings.
