Clinical Research Directory

Intrahospital Influenza Vaccination in Patients at High Cardiovascular Risk (VACC-UP)

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of offering intrahospital influenza vaccination as an adjunct to active counseling during the index hospitalization to adult patients hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or congestive heart failure (CHF), compared with active counseling alone, on influenza vaccination rates in patients at high cardiovascular risk. Patients are randomized 1:1 to either an offer of bedside intrahospital influenza vaccination according to the recommendations of the German Standing Vaccination Committee (STIKO) in addition to standardized active counseling (intervention group), or standardized active counseling plus the standard-of-care recommendation for ambulatory vaccination in the discharge papers (control group). The primary endpoint is the influenza vaccination rate at the end of the index season (March 31).

COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Trial

The goal of this study is to assess the best COVID-19 vaccine uptake strategy among students, staff and household members that have not been vaccinated. There is a multitude of recommendations present that highlight different vaccination strategy; however, it is still unclear which strategy is best to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates. We will compare the effectiveness and acceptance of two different communication strategies among unvaccinated students, staff, and their household members.

Improving Health Equity for COVID-19 Vaccination for At-risk Populations Using Online Social Networks

Social technologies for health have already become essential means for providing underserved populations greater social connectedness and increased access to novel health information. However, these technologies have also had negative unintended consequences. The resulting digital divide in social technology takes many forms - from explicit racism that excludes African American and Latinx populations from the resources enjoyed by White and Asian members of online communities, to self-segregation for the purposes of identity preservation and community-building that unintentionally results in limited informational diversity in underserved communities. The result is an often unnoticed, but highly consequential compounding of inequities. This research seeks to use an online social network approach to address these challenges, in which the investigators demonstrate how reducing the online levels of network centralization and network homophily among African American community members directly increases their productive engagement with health-promoting information.