Vaccination Programs: Community-Wide Education When Used Alone
Findings and Recommendations
The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) finds insufficient evidence to determine whether community-wide education alone increases vaccination rates. Included studies reported mixed results, and it is uncertain whether findings would be applicable to more diverse communities.
The full CPSTF Finding and Rationale Statement and supporting documents for Vaccination Programs: Community-Wide Education When Used Alone are available in The Community Guide Collection on CDC Stacks.
Intervention
Community-wide education aims to motivate people within a target population or geographic area to seek vaccinations. Materials and messages emphasize the importance of vaccinations and explain when and where people can get vaccinated. Approaches may include person-to-person interactions, community mobilization, and mass or small media. These interventions may also target vaccination providers in the community.
About The Systematic Review
The CPSTF finding is based on evidence from a Community Guide systematic review completed in 2010 (6 studies with 8 study arms, search period 1980-2009) combined with more recent evidence (1 study, search period 2009-February 2012).
Study Characteristics
- Studies from United States, Australia, and Finland
- Focused on older adults and children
- Evaluated intervention effects on uptake of influenza, pneumococcal, hepatitis B and MMR vaccines
Summary of Results
Seven studies with nine study arms were included.
- Overall, vaccination rates increased by a median of 6 percentage points (4 studies with 6 study arms)
Summary of Economic Evidence
An economic review was not conducted because CPSTF did not have enough information to determine if the intervention works.
Applicability
Applicability was not assessed because CPSTF did not have enough information to determine if the intervention works.
Evidence Gaps
- How effective are community-wide education interventions when implemented alone?
- How effective are interventions when used in communities that have disparities in vaccination rates?
- What is the impact of community-wide education on the uptake of new vaccines, or new vaccine recommendations?
- How well do interventions work when there is an outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease (e.g., pertussis or measles) or a public health emergency (e.g., pandemic influenza)?
- How does effectiveness differ between direct-to-consumer mass and small media advertising by vaccine manufacturers and campaigns conducted by healthcare systems and public health programs?
Implementation Considerations and Resources
CPSTF did not have enough evidence to determine whether the intervention is or is not effective. This does not mean that the intervention does not work, but rather that additional research is needed to determine whether or not the intervention is effective.