TY - JOUR T1 - GP phone calls to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake among patients at increased risk of severe COVID-19: a randomised trial JF - BJGP Open JO - BJGP Open DO - 10.3399/BJGPO.2022.0175 SP - BJGPO.2022.0175 AU - Marit Tuv AU - Ingeborg Hess Elgersma AU - Ellen Furuseth AU - Christine Holst AU - Arnfinn Helleve AU - Atle Fretheim Y1 - 2023/04/05 UR - http://bjgpopen.org/content/early/2023/03/31/BJGPO.2022.0175.abstract N2 - Background English media have reported that many unvaccinated individuals took the COVID-19 vaccine after receiving a phone call from their GP.Aim To determine whether phone calls from GPs to unvaccinated patients at increased risk of severe COVID-19 improves uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine.Design & setting Randomised trial where 202 participants were allocated to receive a phone call from their GP, and 452 participants were allocated to not get the call. Twenty-five GPs at 11 medical centres in Norway took part. The post-trial focus group discussion was with five GPs.Method Participants were sourced from the GP electronic medical record system, which communicates with the Norwegian Immunisation Registry and can generate a list of the GPs’ unvaccinated patients at increased risk of severe COVID-19.Results The GPs managed to speak over the phone with 154 (76%) patients allocated to receiving a phone call. At follow-up (average 7.5 weeks), 8.9% in the intervention group and 5.3% in the control group had been vaccinated (odds ratio [OR] 1.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.90 to 3.28). Findings from the focus group discussion suggested the timing of the intervention as a likely key reason for its limited success.Conclusion An increase in the proportion of patients who took the COVID-19 vaccine in the intervention group was observed, but the difference was smaller than anticipated, and may be a chance finding. The effect of this type of intervention will likely vary across contexts and may have proved more effective if a larger proportion of the population were unvaccinated. ER -