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PUBLIC HEALTH

Nudges for influenza vaccination

Nature Human Behaviour volume 2, pages 720–721 (2018)Cite this article

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Influenza is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. Nudges are small changes to the environment or choice architecture that can be designed to significantly increase influenza vaccination rates.

Influenza is a significant cause of illness, hospitalization and mortality around the world. Vaccination is a low-cost, effective way to reduce the burden of influenza. Yet, improving vaccination rates has proven challenging. For example, despite numerous marketing campaigns and other initiatives, influenza vaccination rates in the United States have remained mostly unchanged for nearly a decade, with 60% of the population remaining unvaccinated each year1. In a more recent study, successful approaches have often been personnel intensive and expensive, hindering broader-scale deployment2.

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Fig. 1: Ladder of nudge interventions to increase vaccination rates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Penn Medicine Nudge Unit, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Mitesh S. Patel

  2. CMC VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Mitesh S. Patel

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  1. Mitesh S. Patel
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Correspondence to Mitesh S. Patel.

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Competing interests

M.S.P. is founder of Catalyst Health, a technology and behaviour change consulting firm, and is on the medical advisory board for Healthmine Services, Life.io and Holistic Industries.

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Patel, M.S. Nudges for influenza vaccination. Nat Hum Behav 2, 720–721 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0445-x

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