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Did You Get Your Shots? Experimental Evidence on the Role of Reminders

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Listed:
  • Busso, Matías
  • Cristia, Julian P.
  • Humpage, Sarah D.

Abstract

Many families fail to vaccinate their children despite the supply of these services at no cost. This study tests whether personal reminders can increase demand for vaccination. A field experiment was conducted in rural Guatemala in which timely reminders were provided to families whose children were due for a vaccine. The six-month intervention increased the probability of vaccination completion by 2.2 percentage points among all children in treatment communities. Moreover, for children in treatment communities who were due to receive a vaccine, and whose parents were expected to be reminded about that due date, the probability of vaccination completion increased by 4.9 percentage points. The cost of an additional child with complete vaccination due to the intervention is estimated at about $7.50.

Suggested Citation

  • Busso, Matías & Cristia, Julian P. & Humpage, Sarah D., 2015. "Did You Get Your Shots? Experimental Evidence on the Role of Reminders," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 6944, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:6944
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    3. González, María P. & Scartascini, Carlos, 2023. "Increasing the Use of Telemedicine: A Field Experiment," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12850, Inter-American Development Bank.
    4. C. Yiwei Zhang & Jeffrey Hemmeter & Judd B. Kessler & Robert D. Metcalfe & Robert Weathers, 2023. "Nudging Timely Wage Reporting: Field Experimental Evidence from the U.S. Supplemental Security Income Program," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1341-1353, March.
    5. Hirani, Jonas Cuzulan & Wüst, Miriam, 2024. "Reminder design and childhood vaccination coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Steven E. Prince & Sarah E. Muskin & Samantha J. Kramer & ShihMing Huang & Timothy Blakey & Ana G. Rappold, 2024. "Smoke on the horizon: leveling up citizen and social science to motivate health protective responses during wildfires," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Gallegos, Sebastian & Roseth, Benjamin & Cuesta, Ana & Sánchez, Mario, 2023. "Increasing the take-up of public health services: An at-scale experiment on digital government," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    8. Malik, Amyn A. & Ahmed, Noureen & Shafiq, Mehr & Elharake, Jad A. & James, Erin & Nyhan, Kate & Paintsil, Elliott & Melchinger, Hannah Camille & Team, Yale Behavioral Interventions & Malik, Fauzia A. , 2023. "Behavioral interventions for vaccination uptake: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    9. Bhattacharya, Haimanti & Dugar, Subhasish, 2022. "Business norm versus norm-nudge as a contract-enforcing mechanism: Evidence from a real marketplace," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    10. Busso, Matias & Romero, Dario & Salcedo, Dario, 2017. "Improving access to preventive maternal health care using reminders: Experimental evidence from Guatemala," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 43-46.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Field experiment; Vaccination; Guatemala; Reminders;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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