According to grant documents obtained by Children’s Health Defense via a FOIA request, the NIH is spending $2.2 million in taxpayer money to test personalized “nudges” to coax older people into getting more vaccines.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington are using Electronic Health Records (EHR) data — the electronic records from doctors’ offices containing patients’ detailed health and demographic data — to target African American, Hispanic and Asian people with lower flu, pneumococcal and herpes zoster vaccination rates.

The ongoing study blames the “poor vaccination rates” on patients’ and clinicians’ “widespread decision-making biases.” The trial is testing strategies drawn from behavioral economics, which uses insights from psychology to understand — and in this case to “nudge” or direct — people’s decision-making behavior.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/nih-be-immune-clinical-trial-nudge-more-vaccines/?