Letters designed with behavioural science increase influenza vaccination in Medicare beneficiaries

The influenza ('flu') vaccination is low cost¹ and effective, typically reducing the likelihood of infection by 50-60%². It is recommended for nearly everyone older than 6 months of age³; yet, only 40% of Americans are immunized each year. Vaccination rates are higher among at-risk groups, such as those ≥65 years of age, but still only 6 in 10 receive it⁴. There have been numerous attempts to improve vaccination rates using strategies such as school-based programmes, financial incentives and reminders, but these have generally had limited success^5-7. Of the attempts that are successful, most are expensive-limiting scalability-and have not been evaluated in the elderly⁸. Conversely, lower-cost interventions, such as mailed information, hold promise for a scalable solution, but their limited effectiveness may result from how they have been designed. We randomly assigned 228,000 individuals ≥66 years of age to one of five versions of letters intended to motivate vaccination, including versions with an implementation intention prompt and an enhanced active choice implementation prompt. We found that a single mailed letter significantly increased influenza vaccination rates compared with no letter. However, there was no difference in vaccination rates across the four different letters tailored with behavioural science techniques.