JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

COVID-19 vaccines are vital tools in the defense against infection and serious disease from the 2019 novel coronavirus. In these unprecedented times, with COVID-19 mass vaccination campaigns essential to protecting vulnerable patient populations and attaining herd immunity, health systems are faced with challenges of outreach and distribution.

Objective:

To determine the effectiveness of a text message outreach approach for engaging with and scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments for patients 65 and older.

Methods:

This cross-sectional study was conducted at a not-for-profit health system in Washington, D.C. to determine the effectiveness of patient engagement using a text outreach approach. Current patients of the healthcare system ages 65 and older (N=30,826) were included in this study. Data were examined from 1/14/2021 to 5/10/2021.

Results:

57% of text messages were delivered to patients, but many messages received no response from patients (40%). Additionally, 42.1% of messages were undelivered. Of the patients who expressed interest in the vaccine (9.5%), Black/African American patients preferred a phone call versus email for scheduling their appointment (OR 1.69, 95%CI: 1.29-2.21) compared to White patients. Patients ages 70-74 were more likely to schedule an appointment (OR 1.38, 95%CI: 1.01-1.89) than patients ages 65-69, and Black/African American patients were more likely to schedule an appointment (OR 2.90, 95%CI: 1.72-4.91) than White patients.

Conclusions:

This study provides insights into some advantages and challenges of using text messaging vaccine outreach to reach many patients quickly and effectively. Lessons learned from this vaccine campaign underscore the importance of using multiple outreach methods and sharing of patient vaccination status between health systems, along with a patient-centered approach to address vaccine hesitancy and access issues. Clinical Trial: N/A