What Works to Get the Elderly Vaccinated Against COVID-19? Experimental Evidence From India

COVID-19 poses a substantial risk to elderly populations; understanding how to get elders vaccinated against the virus is therefore a policy priority. An experiment with elders in Tamil Nadu, India will be used to evaluate interventions policymakers might use to raise vaccination rates amongst the elderly. The particular interventions being tested are: calling elders to inform them about vaccination; encouragement of a "buddy system," whereby elders are accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine; and seeding vaccination information with "gossips," individuals who elders identify as being good at spreading information in the elders' communities. The interventions are phone-based, and can be implemented quickly and at low cost. This makes them promising strategies the Tamil Nadu government and other governments could use to vaccinate elderly populations against COVID-19.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Covid19; Aging
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Information; Behavioral: Buddy; Behavioral: Gossip intervention; Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Behavioral: Buddy assigned in community

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 3006
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• India
  • Tamil Nadu
    • Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
      • JPAL SA at IFMR

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 55 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• At least 55 years of age
• Has phone number

Exclusion Criteria:

- Not part of the experiments registered under protocol IDs 223749 or 172020

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

8

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (1)); (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated. (iii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders and to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated.	Behavioral: Information; Elder informed about vaccination.; Behavioral: Buddy; Elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated.; Behavioral: Gossip intervention; Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders. If buddy intervention assigned in community, gossips also asked to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated.; Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.; Behavioral: Buddy assigned in community; Buddy intervention assigned for other elders in community.
Experimental: Community receives buddy and gossip treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (2)); Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (1).	Behavioral: Gossip intervention; Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders. If buddy intervention assigned in community, gossips also asked to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated.; Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.; Behavioral: Buddy assigned in community; Buddy intervention assigned for other elders in community.
Experimental: Community receives gossip treatment, individual informed directly (arm (3)); (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders.	Behavioral: Information; Elder informed about vaccination.; Behavioral: Gossip intervention; Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders. If buddy intervention assigned in community, gossips also asked to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated.; Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.
Experimental: Community receives gossip treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (4)); Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (3).	Behavioral: Gossip intervention; Members of elder's community asked who in the community is good at spreading information. These "gossips" then asked to spread information about vaccination of elders. If buddy intervention assigned in community, gossips also asked to encourage their communities to use the buddy system to get elders vaccinated.; Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.
Experimental: Community receives buddy treatment, individual informed directly (arm (5)); (i) Individual elder given vaccination information. (ii) Individual elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated.	Behavioral: Information; Elder informed about vaccination.; Behavioral: Buddy; Elder encouraged to get vaccinated using "buddy system," whereby he/she is accompanied to the vaccination site by another adult who could also get the vaccine. A potential buddy also given vaccination information and encouraged to help the elder get to the vaccination site so they could both be vaccinated.; Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.; Behavioral: Buddy assigned in community; Buddy intervention assigned for other elders in community.
Experimental: Community receives buddy treatment, individual not informed directly (arm (6)); Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (5).	Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.; Behavioral: Buddy assigned in community; Buddy intervention assigned for other elders in community.
Experimental: Community receives information, individual informed directly (arm (7)); Individual elder given vaccination information.	Behavioral: Information; Elder informed about vaccination.; Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.
Experimental: Community receives information, individual not informed directly (arm (8)); Individual elder lives in community with elders in arm (7).	Behavioral: Information assigned in community; Information intervention assigned for other elders in community.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Received at least one shot	Elders asked on phone call if they have received zero, one, or two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Outcome takes the value of 1 if they received at least one shot, and 0 otherwise.	8 weeks after intervention
Received two shots	Elders asked on phone call if they have received zero, one, or two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Outcome takes the value of 1 if they received two shots, and 0 otherwise.	8 weeks after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 17, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 28, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 29, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): May 3, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 29, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 27, 2023
• Last Verified: March 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Lung Diseases; COVID-19
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1702861995A021

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No