Identifying the Most Cost-Effective Way to Large Scale Vaccination in Rural Bangladesh

Last registered on September 02, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Identifying the Most Cost-Effective Way to Large Scale Vaccination in Rural Bangladesh
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008273
Initial registration date
July 11, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 12, 2022, 10:39 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 02, 2022, 12:30 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Bangladesh
Region
Different districts

Primary Investigator

Name
Asad Islam
Affiliation
Monash University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Asad Islam
PI Affiliation
Monash University
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PI Name
Hyuncheol Kim
PI Affiliation
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
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PI Name
Debayan Prakashi
PI Affiliation
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
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PI Name
Armand Sim
PI Affiliation
Monash University
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PI Name
Dinesh Arora
PI Affiliation
Asian Development Bank
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PI Name
Dai-Ling Chen
PI Affiliation
Asian Development Bank
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PI Name
David A. Raitzer
PI Affiliation
Asian Development Bank
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PI Name
Piyush Bhutani
PI Affiliation
Asian Development Bank
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PI Name
Diwakar Mohan
PI Affiliation
John Hopkins University
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PI Name
Shafiun Shimul
PI Affiliation
University of Dhaka
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-02-01
End date
2023-06-30
Keywords
Behavior, Governance, Health, Welfare
Additional Keywords
COVID-19, vaccine promotion, health behaviors, Bangladesh
JEL code(s)
I1, I12, I18, I20, I3
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Increasing COVID-19 vaccination uptake is crucial for controlling the spread of COVID-19, economic recovery, and returning to normal or near-normal daily lives. However, even when supplies are increasingly available, COVID-19 vaccine take-up rates in many countries are still low owing to widespread vaccine hesitancy. We conduct a randomized controlled trial with individuals in rural Bangladesh to understand the barriers to vaccine take-up and identify the most effective way to increase it. We test several strategies: information about the benefits and risk about COVID-19 vaccines, information and accessibility assistance, and information and campaign by local eminent individuals.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Arora, Dinesh et al. 2022. "Identifying the Most Cost-Effective Way to Large Scale Vaccination in Rural Bangladesh." AEA RCT Registry. September 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8273-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We conduct a cluster randomized experiment that varies treatments at the village level. All treatment groups receive information about COVID-19 vaccines. In total, we have three treatment groups--information only, information and accessibility, and information and campaign by local eminent individuals--and one control group. All participants in treatment groups will receive a set of information about benefits of COVID-19 vaccines, availability of vaccines, distribution of infection and fatality rates, among others delivered by field workers verbally. Information was collected from the WHO, Bangladeshi health ministry, and local governments. Individuals in (information and) accessibility group will receive assistance on registration/enrollment and transportation. Individuals in (information and) local eminent individuals group will receive encouragement from local eminent individuals that we recruited. Control group does not receive any information treatment.

Intervention Start Date
2022-06-04
Intervention End Date
2022-07-08

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Vaccination decisions (first and second dose)
1. Vaccination uptake
2. Vaccination intention: willingness to get vaccinated
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
1. Vaccination uptake

Indicator variable that equals to one if participants report having received the first and/or second dose of vaccine (verified by physical or digital proof). This variable measures the actual vaccination uptake.

2. Vaccination intention
Likert-scale variable (1-5) that measures the degree of vaccination intention. We will normalize this variable to have support between 0 and 1.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1. Compliance to COVID-19 health protocols

2. Post-intervention COVID infection

3. Mental health: general mental health status and mental health status attributed to COVID-19

4. Knowledge and beliefs about COVID-19 and vaccines
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
1. Compliance to COVID-19 health protocols
Index variable constructed from responses to questions related to COVID-19 health protocols, such as hand washing and mask wearing.

2. Post-intervention COVID infection
Indicator variable that equals to one if respondents report getting infected with COVID after the intervention.

3. Mental health: general mental health status and mental health status attributed to COVID-19
Index variable constructed from responses to various questions related to mental health status attributed to COVID-19 and other causes.

4. Knowledge and beliefs about COVID-19 and vaccines
Index variable constructed from questions on health belief model related to knowledge and other beliefs about COVID-19 and vaccines, such as benefits and risks of COVID-19 vaccines as well as vulnerability to COVID-19.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will randomly assign 9,000 individuals aged 18+ (one from each household) randomly selected from 685 different locations (both rural and urban) across several districts in Bangladesh to one of the three treatments and one control group.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done by a computer (using STATA).
Randomization Unit
Randomization will be done at the community level.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
600 locations.
Sample size: planned number of observations
12,000 eligible individuals (one from each household).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
685 locations (and 9,000 individuals) will be randomly assigned to the three treatments and one control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Monash University
IRB Approval Date
2021-12-09
IRB Approval Number
31121
IRB Name
University of Dhaka
IRB Approval Date
2021-12-04
IRB Approval Number
IHE/IRB/DU/32/2021/Final
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

PAP AUG 29.pdf

MD5: 0969fbd158d96e06f5761376ddf49bc2

SHA1: 0c17d8cd982f38b9ea0574f9cb44f5ad9656c35f

Uploaded At: September 02, 2022

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials