Did You Get Your Shots? Experimental Evidence on the Role of Reminders

Did You Get Your Shots? Experimental Evidence on the Role of Reminders

Working Paper
Published: May 30, 2015
Publisher: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, Department of Research and Chief Economist

Download

Authors

Matías Busso

Julián Cristia

Many families fail to vaccinate their children despite the supply of these services at no cost. This study tests whether personal reminders can increase demand for vaccination. A field experiment was conducted in rural Guatemala in which timely reminders were provided to families whose children were due for a vaccine. The six-month intervention increased the probability of vaccination completion by 2.2 percentage points among all children in treatment communities. Moreover, for children in treatment communities who were due to receive a vaccine, and whose parents were expected to be reminded about that due date, the probability of vaccination completion increased by 4.9 percentage points. The cost of an additional child with complete vaccination due to the intervention is estimated at about $7.50.

Efficiency Meets Impact.
That's Progress Together.

To solve their most pressing challenges, organizations turn to Mathematica for deeply integrated expertise. We bring together subject matter and policy experts, data scientists, methodologists, and technologists who work across topics and sectors to help our partners design, improve, and scale evidence-based solutions.

Work With Us