A simple message encouraging vaccination from primary care physicians can improve vaccination rates among Black and Latino communities, according to a June 17 study in JAMA Network Open.
The researchers included more than 8,000 Black and Latino people in the trial, some of whom in the intervention group were sent secure messages to their patient portal reminding them to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Some of the messages included culturally sensitive wording, such as reminding patients that they are eligible for the vaccine regardless of citizenship status and that it helps protect the communities that have suffered the most from COVID-19.
Eight weeks after the program began, patients in the culturally sensitive message group had a vaccination rate of 24 percent, those who received a non-culturally tailored message had a vaccination rate of 23 percent and those in the control group had a rate of 21 percent. Thus, those who received the messages, regardless of whether they were culturally specific or not, had a significantly higher vaccination rate than those who didn't receive any message.