title: Did you get your shots? Experimental evidence on the role of reminders.
abstract: 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 4.6 percentage points. The cost of an additional child with complete vaccination due to the intervention is estimated at about $7.50.
authors.affiliation: Research Department Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC 20577, United States. Electronic address: mbusso@iadb.org.
authors.forename: Matias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Busso
authors.affiliation: Research Department Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC 20577, United States.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cristia
authors.affiliation: Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ, United States.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Humpage
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006166:Guatemala; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007223:Infant; D011203:Poverty; D017010:Reminder Systems / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Field experiment; Guatemala; Reminders; Vaccination