Increasing immunization compliance in schools

What was the challenge?

OES and the National Vaccine Program Office in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service collaborated with a mid-sized city to improve immunization compliance among students in schools and daycare centers. The project focused on overcoming several behavioral barriers, including ensuring principals had information about their students’ immunization compliance and appropriate steps to take, as well as information on the importance of immunization compliance and where their school’s compliance stands.

What was the program change?

We designed report cards to report on school and daycare center immunization compliance rates relative to top performers and corresponding star rating. The report cards were created using data visualization software and by using immunization registry data.

How did the evaluation work?

We randomized the 304 schools and 396 daycare centers, whereby school leaders (principals and the immunization point of contact) at half of the schools and daycare centers received report cards.

What was the impact?

There was no significant difference in compliance rates between treatment and control schools at the end of the school year, six months after the first report card was sent.

Verify the upload date of our Analysis Plan on GitHub.

Related publication:
Jessica Leight and Elana Safran. Increasing immunization compliance among schools and day care centers: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Behavioral Public Administration 2, no. 2 (2019).