Increasing Influenza Vaccination in Primary Healthcare Workers Using Solidary Incentives: Analysis of Efficacy and Costs

Introduction: Influenza vaccination campaigns have difficulty in reaching the 75% uptake in healthcare workers (HCWs) that public health organizations target. This study runs a campaign across 42 primary care centers (PCCs) where for every HCW vaccinated against influenza, a polio vaccine is donated through UNICEF for children in developing nations. It also analyses the efficacy and cost of the campaign. Method: This observational prospective non-randomized cohort study was conducted across 262 PCCs and 15.812 HCWs. A total of 42 PCCs were delivered the full campaign, 114 were used as the control group, and 106 were excluded. The vaccine uptake in HCWs within each of those PCCs was registered. The cost analysis assumes that campaign costs remain stable year to year, and the only added cost would be the polio vaccines (0.59euro). Results: We found statistically significant differences between both groups. A total of 1423 (59.02%) HCWs got vaccinated in the intervention group and 3768 (55.76%) in the control group OR 1.14, CI 95% (1.04-1.26). In this scenario, each additional HCW vaccinated in the intervention group costs 10.67euro. Assuming all 262 PCCs had joined the campaign and reached 59.02% uptake, the cost of running this incentive would have been 5506euro. The potential cost of increasing uptake in HCWs by 1% across all PCC (n = 8816) would be 1683euro, and across all healthcare providers, 8862euro (n = 83.226). Conclusions: This study reveals that influenza vaccination uptake can be innovative by including solidary incentives and be successful in increasing uptake in HCWs. The cost of running a campaign such as this one is low.

Automated summary

This study conducted an influenza vaccination campaign in 42 primary care centers, where for every healthcare worker vaccinated against influenza, a polio vaccine is donated to children in developing nations. The results show that this campaign can effectively increase the vaccination uptake in healthcare workers and has a low cost of operation.