Mailing Campaign Feasible, Effective in Improving Pneumococcal Vaccine Rates
Researchers explored the efficacy of a targeted mailing campaign for improving pneumococcal vaccination coverage among adults 65 and over.
Pneumococcal vaccination rates were found to improve with help from a targeted mailing campaign, according to data published in Archives of Cardiovascular Diseases.1 With the success of this study, further campaigns are currently being developed on a larger scale to help bolster pneumococcal vaccine (PV) coverage in France and beyond.
“Pneumococcal infections are responsible for an important morbi-mortality that can be prevented by pneumococcal vaccination (PV)," the authors wrote. "Thus, PV is recommended for selected patients judged at increased risk of serious complications. Yet, despite clear guideline-supported indications and a full reimbursement, PV coverage remains low in France in the different targeted populations.”
While this study was conducted in France, researchers and providers all around the world are looking to improve pneumococcal vaccination rates. In the US, CDC data show that 64% of patients 65 and older, at the highest risk of pneumococcal diseases, had at least 1 dose of the PV.2 Globally, however, rates are a bit more skewed across various regions. World Health Organization (WHO) data show that up to 86% of WHO’s European Region is covered against pneumococcal diseases but only 26% are covered in the Western Pacific Region.3
As part of the campaign, each participant was asked to discuss PV immunization with their general practitioners. | image credit: Sirichai / stock.adobe.com
READ MORE: ACIP Publishes Final Pneumococcal Vaccine Recommendations
Statistics like these, and the notable trend of overall vaccination coverage declining, have led researchers to explore methods for correcting declining rates. With a focus on the PV and staying protected against pneumococcal diseases, the researchers’ goal was “to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a large mailing campaign targeted to selected eligible patients in terms of vaccine coverage, compared to a ‘usual care’ control cohort.”1
To test the efficacy and feasibility of their targeted mailing campaign, researchers included a total of 7472 patients living in the Loire-Vendée-Océan Territorial Health Community in France. “[Patients] aged 65 years or older, suffering from diabetes, chronic heart disease, or respiratory diseases, and with no PV pharmacy delivery documented in the previous 2 years, were identified from the nominative regional compulsory health insurance data,” they continued. The 7472 study participants were compared with a cohort featuring 25,897 patients with similar clinical characteristics to be included in the usual care control group.
The most notable aspect of the study’s design was the incentivized mail targeted at the study population. Each participant was asked to discuss the PV with their general practitioners (GPs). After GPs were notified about the mailing intervention, researchers mailed the proper information to eligible participants. PV coverage among each group was assessed at 6 months and the study was conducted throughout 2022.
“During the study period, PV vaccine coverage, defined as the delivery of at least one dose of PV per patient, increased by 9.5 points (from 13.8% to 23.3%) in the intervention group, and by 1.9 points (from 16.3% to 18.2%) in the usual care group,” wrote the authors.1 “In subgroups, patients suffering from chronic heart disease or diabetes that demonstrate a lower PV coverage at baseline benefited the most from the intervention.”
The targeted mailing intervention performed significantly better than the control group with almost a 10% increase in PV coverage. Further highlighting even more success behind the campaign, at-risk patients with various comorbidities performed the best. With the notable success behind this pilot study, researchers are currently adapting the campaign elsewhere and on larger scales, with hopes that those too will have successful outcomes.
“This pilot study demonstrated that a targeted mailing campaign to [PV] eligible patients is a feasible and effective intervention to improve vaccine coverage,” concluded the authors.1 “A larger scale program is planned at [the] regional level.”
READ MORE: Pneumococcal Resource Center
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