--- title: Text Messages Ensure Kids Get Full Flu Vaccine description: Text messages may be a simple way doctor's offices can ensure their young patients are adequately protected against the flu. canonical: https://time.com/3648483/text-messages-flu-vaccine/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-29T16:12:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:09:43.926Z article:section: Health og:title: Text Messages Ensure Kids Get Full Flu Vaccine og:description: Text messages may be a simple way doctor's offices can ensure their young patients are adequately protected against the flu. og:url: https://time.com/3648483/text-messages-flu-vaccine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7854909363bfce61/6987622d8e06019066457d9f/flu-influenza.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3250 og:image:height: 1828 og:image:alt: Flu vaccines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Text Messages Ensure Kids Get Full Flu Vaccine twitter:description: Text messages may be a simple way doctor's offices can ensure their young patients are adequately protected against the flu. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7854909363bfce61/6987622d8e06019066457d9f/flu-influenza.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Text Messages Ensure Kids Get Full Flu Vaccine > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 29, 2014 4:12 PM UTC  Flu vaccines. File photo dated 05/10/09 of a nurse preparing to give a patient a shot from a hypodermic needle, as pregnant women are among those being urged to get the flu vaccine in a major public health drive. Issue date: Monday October 6, 2014\. People with existing health conditions and parents of young children are also being targeted by medics seeking to encourage widespread immunisation against the illness ahead of the winter. See PA story HEALTH Flu. Photo credit should read: David Cheskin/PA Wire URN:21112040 Flu vaccines. File photo dated 05/10/09 of a nurse preparing to give a patient a shot from a hypodermic needle, as pregnant women are among those being urged to get the flu vaccine in a major public health drive. Issue date: Monday October 6, 2014\. People with existing health conditions and parents of young children are also being targeted by medics seeking to encourage widespread immunisation against the illness ahead of the winter. See PA story HEALTH Flu. Photo credit should read: David Cheskin/PA Wire URN:21112040 David Cheskin—PA Wire/AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 29, 2014 4:12 PM UTC Text messages may be a simple way doctor’s offices can ensure their young patients are adequately protected against the flu. [In a new study](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/12/23/peds.2014-2475.abstract) from Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical Center, researchers looked at 660 children between 6 months through 8 years old. Kids in that age range require two doses of the influenza vaccine. The first dose primes the immune system, and the second dose offers immune protection. Kids who do not get both doses, which are given at least 28 days apart, are not fully protected. However, it can be hard for families to bring in their children twice for vaccination. The researchers developed a new strategy of sending educational text message reminders for the second dose. They split the participants into three groups. One group received an educational text message (the text included info on why the second dose is important), one group received a conventional reminder text message and the last group received a written reminder only. The results, published in the journal _Pediatrics_, show that the kids whose families received the educational text message were much more likely to get their second dose at 72.7%. In comparison, 66.7% of kids in the conventional text group got their second flu shot, and 57.1% of kids in the written reminder group got theirs. Families viewed the text messages as helpful, and a sign that someone cared. Nearly 61% of parents said the texts were either the primary reason or part of the reason they brought their children in for the second dose, and slightly over 70% said it was one of the reasons they brought their kids in sooner. If text messages really are more successful than more traditional medical reminders, it might be time for wider adoption. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3648483/text-messages-flu-vaccine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3648483/text-messages-flu-vaccine/"},"headline":"Text Messages Ensure Kids Get Full Flu Vaccine","datePublished":"2014-12-29T16:12:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:09:43.926Z","description":"Text messages may be a simple way doctor's offices can ensure their young patients are adequately protected against the flu.","url":"https://time.com/3648483/text-messages-flu-vaccine/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","texting","influenza","flu vaccine","vaccine","flu shot","shot"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7854909363bfce61/6987622d8e06019066457d9f/flu-influenza.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7854909363bfce61/6987622d8e06019066457d9f/flu-influenza.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Flu vaccines","caption":"Flu vaccines","creditText":"David Cheskin—PA Wire/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3648483/text-messages-flu-vaccine/","name":"Text Messages Ensure Kids Get Full Flu Vaccine"}}]}] ```