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Systematic Review
"This report aimed to determine the effectiveness of community-wide education interventions when implemented alone in increasing vaccination rates or reducing rates of vaccine preventable illness."
The authors state:
"This Task Force finding is based on evidence from a Community Guide systematic review completed in 2010 (6 studies with 8 study arms, search period 1980-2009) combined with more recent evidence (1 study, search period 2009- February 2012). Based on the combined evidence, the Task Force reaffirms its finding of insufficient evidence. The Task Force considered evidence from 7 studies with 9 study arms. Among the studies providing a common measure of change in vaccination rates (4 studies with 6 arms) there was a median increase of 6 percentage points (range of values: 0.4 to 12.2 percentage points). Three studies evaluated mass media activities using different measures of change. In a targeted community in Australia, pneumococcal vaccines dispatched to service providers increased during the period of a mass media campaign. In Finland, a mass media campaign briefly increased MMR vaccine receipt for children 6 years of age, though changes were not reported for younger children. In the U.S., a mass media campaign addressing flu-related topics among a nationally representative population of older adults found a positive association between flu-related media reports and influenza vaccination rates in the weeks following the campaign (annual vaccination rates increased by 2.3-7.9 percentage points, p<0.001). One U.S. study observed moderate increases in vaccination rates for hepatitis B vaccine following intensive communitywide educational efforts in two Vietnamese-American communities. Characteristics of the study communities that may have contributed to intervention effectiveness included: (1) popular Vietnamese-language media, (2) established Vietnamese service organizations, and (3) culturally appropriate strategies and materials."
The authors state:
"The Community Preventive Services Task Force finds insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of community-wide education when implemented alone in increasing vaccination rates or reducing rates of vaccine preventable illness. Evidence is considered insufficient due to inconsistent results and concerns about the applicability of evidence to more diverse communities in the United States where improvements in vaccination rates are needed."