Key Points
Question Does provision of COVID-19 vaccine educational messaging increase vaccine acceptance and uptake in unvaccinated emergency department (ED) patients?
Findings In this cluster randomized clinical trial of 496 participants conducted at 7 EDs in the US, delivery of COVID-19 vaccine messaging platforms resulted in statistically significant higher vaccine acceptance among intervention group participants compared with the control group (25.8% vs 12.0%; adjusted difference, 11.9 percentage points) as well as uptake within 30 days (20.0% vs 8.7%; adjusted difference, 7.9 percentage points). Outcome effect sizes of the intervention were greater in Latinx persons and participants without primary care physicians.
Meaning These findings support the delivery of COVID-19 vaccine messaging platforms in EDs nationally to improve vaccine acceptance and uptake in underserved populations whose primary health care access occurs in EDs.
Abstract
Importance Large segments of the US population’s primary health care access occurs in emergency departments (EDs). These groups have disproportionately high COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and lower vaccine uptake.
Objective To determine whether provision of COVID-19 vaccine messaging platforms in EDs increases COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake in unvaccinated patients.
Design, Setting, and Participants This prospective cluster randomized clinical trial was conducted at 7 hospital EDs in 4 US cities from December 6, 2021, to July 28, 2022. Noncritically ill adult patients who had not
