Research ArticleOriginal Article
Open Access

Using the ‘4Ps’ social marketing strategy to overcome vaccination hesitancy

COVID-19 vaccine coverage in a Chinese college as an example

Baojia Zheng, Jiao Yan, Xiaoqing Wang, Yuxin Tang and Yali Xiang
Saudi Medical Journal June 2023, 44 (6) 560-596; DOI: https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2023.44.6.20220696

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    - The flow of ‘4Ps’ social marketing strategy applied in the COVID-19 vaccination. ‘4Ps’ social marketing strategy was divided into four phases. Each phase had its own tasks and projects, and continuous evaluation and improvement were conducted at any time throughout the whole process

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    - Implementation of ‘4Ps’ social marketing strategies rapidly reduced the vaccination hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccines in target populations. A) The Pie showed the vaccination hesitancy among the target population before “4Ps” social marketing strategy. B) The Pie showed the vaccination hesitancy among the target population after implementing ‘4Ps’ social marketing strategy. C) Regarding the changes in the proportions of the six items relating to confidence, complacency and convenience based on “3Cs” model before and after ‘4Ps’ social marketing strategy.” ****”,p<0.0001.

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    - Comparison of national and local vaccination coverage before and after the implementation of ‘4Ps’ social marketing. The vaccination coverage rate of the intervention group through ‘4Ps’ social marketing strategies was higher than that of Zhuhai city and nationwide.

  • Figure
  • Figure

Tables

  • Table 1

    -Total of 12 questions about vaccination for health promotion offline and online.

    ItemsQuestion
    Q 1Is was necessary to vaccinate against COVID-19?
    Q 2How safe was the COVID-19 vaccine?
    Q 3How long was the protection period and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine?
    Q 4What vaccine was being vaccinated this time?
    Q 5Why should I stay for 30 minutes after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine?
    Q 6What impact would the mutation of COVID-19 had on the effect of vaccination?
    Q 7Were the following special circumstances (including pregnancy, female menstrual period, gout attack period, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, coronary atherosclerosis) suitable for COVID-19 vaccination?
    Q 8Could I get COVID-19 vaccine if I had received other vaccines?
    Q 9What was the COVID-19 vaccination process?
    Q 10How to make an appointment and vaccinate against COVID-19 conveniently?
    Q 11Was there a charge for this vaccination?
    Q 12How to form herd immunity among the population through vaccination?
  • Table 2

    -The “4Ps” of social marketing in the “Let’s Get Vaccinated Together “ campaign”.

    “4P” strategyDefinition and methods
    “1P”“Product”: Getting COVID-19 vaccine could reduce the risk of disease for yourself and your family.
    “2P”“Price”: The Government provided free vaccines and vaccination agency provided home facilitation of vaccination without regard to financial and time costs.
    “3P”“Place”: Convenient vaccination sites were set up in the gymnasium on campus. And the convenient appointment was flexible and multi-option for the target population.
    “4P”“Promotion”: Titled “ Let’s Get Vaccinated Together “ to increase awareness, and the campaign name was shown by designing as a banner, display board, logo and other eye-catching images. The content of health communication and its spreading method should take the characteristics and needs of the targeted population into account. Multi-media health communication was carried out and official public WeChat account and government press releases were used to enhance the credibility of the campaign.
  • Table 3

    -The coverage rate of the first dosage of COVID-19 vaccine before and after the application of social marketing strategy.

     Pre-interventionPost-interventionP value
    Total number (persons)1079510795NA
    Number of people unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons (persons)561561NA
    Number of vaccinations with indications (persons)1023410126NA
    Vaccination cycle (days)2020NA
    Completion of first vaccination Number of people (persons)6699565⊠0.001
    Suspected severe abnormal vaccination reactions (cases)00NA
    First shot of vaccine coverage (%)6.19%94.8%⊠0.001
    NA: not significance
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