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Treatment 1: Direct for Vaccine Refusal

N/A
Waitlist Available
Led By Abhijit Banerjee, PhD
Research Sponsored by Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Eligibility Criteria Checklist
Specific guidelines that determine who can or cannot participate in a clinical trial
Must have
Be older than 18 years old
Timeline
Screening 3 weeks
Treatment Varies
Follow Up during intervention and up to 6 months after intervention
Awards & highlights

Study Summary

This study will distribute videos of health professionals encouraging Covid-19 vaccination to a large sample of Facebook users, and will test the most effective ways to maximize diffusion of this vaccine-related content to increase vaccination rates. The study sample will be U.S. states where vaccination rates remained low in fall 2021. The experimental design is an RCT with 4 groups, randomized at the county level: 1) a control group which receives no intervention, 2) a treatment group in which Facebook users receive ads which include videos of health professionals telling them to get vaccinated, 3) a treatment group in which Facebook users receive ads which include videos of health professionals encouraging them to help their friends to get vaccinated, and 4) a treatment group in which Facebook users receive ads which include videos of health professionals encouraging them to get their most influential friends to help their friends get vaccinated. In treatments 3 and 4, participants will have the option to sign up to be a "vaccine ambassador," in which case they will get notifications when the study team posts new vaccine-related content, and will receive reminders about encouraging their friends to be vaccinated. The vaccine ambassadors will also be entered into a lottery to win prizes. The study team is building a website to host the videos of health professionals which answer common questions about Covid-19 vaccination. The investigators will measure engagement with the vaccine-related content as well as assess effects on vaccination rates at the county level.

Eligible Conditions
  • Vaccine Refusal
  • Coronavirus Pandemic

Timeline

Screening ~ 3 weeks
Treatment ~ Varies
Follow Up ~during intervention and up to 6 months after intervention
This trial's timeline: 3 weeks for screening, Varies for treatment, and during intervention and up to 6 months after intervention for reporting.

Treatment Details

Study Objectives

Outcome measures can provide a clearer picture of what you can expect from a treatment.
Primary outcome measures
Changes in County-Level Covid-19 Vaccination Measured by Inverse Hyperbolic Sine
Secondary outcome measures
COVID-19 cases
COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality
COVID-19 symptoms prevalence
+4 more

Trial Design

4Treatment groups
Experimental Treatment
Active Control
Group I: Treatment 3: GossipsExperimental Treatment5 Interventions
Facebook users in the area receive ads which include videos of health professionals encouraging them to nominate their most influential friends to help their friends get vaccinated. The difference from Treatment 2 is that the health professionals call on Facebook users to get their most influential friends to do the convincing about the vaccine. There is also a link in the ad to a website built by the study team. This website hosts videos which answer common questions about vaccination (the same videos that are directly served to Facebook users in Treatment 1).
Group II: Treatment 2: FriendsExperimental Treatment5 Interventions
Facebook users in the area receive ads which include videos of health professionals encouraging them to help their friends to get vaccinated. There is also a link in the ad to a website build by the study team. This website hosts videos which answer common questions about vaccination (the same videos which are directly served to Facebook users in Treatment 1).
Group III: Treatment 1: DirectExperimental Treatment1 Intervention
Facebook users in the area receive ads which include videos of health professionals telling them to get vaccinated. The health professionals answer common questions about Covid-19 vaccines (e.g. are they safe / are they free).
Group IV: ControlActive Control1 Intervention
No intervention in this arm; the study team will examine publicly available county- and zip code-level outcomes in this group.
Treatment
First Studied
Drug Approval Stage
How many patients have taken this drug
Doctor Videos
2021
N/A
~10
Sharing Videos
2021
N/A
~10
Video order
2021
N/A
~10
Sharing Videos (Influencers)
2021
N/A
~10
Vaccine Ambassador
2021
N/A
~10
Video framing
2021
N/A
~10

Find a Location

Who is running the clinical trial?

Harvard UniversityOTHER
229 Previous Clinical Trials
474,499 Total Patients Enrolled
Massachusetts General HospitalOTHER
2,933 Previous Clinical Trials
13,198,495 Total Patients Enrolled
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyLead Sponsor
97 Previous Clinical Trials
12,729,981 Total Patients Enrolled

Frequently Asked Questions

These questions and answers are submitted by anonymous patients, and have not been verified by our internal team.
~2 spots leftby Apr 2025