May 27, 2021

Accessibility and Usability of State Health Department COVID-19 Vaccine Websites

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Vaccines and Immunity

Keywords (Tags): public health communications, vaccination

• A qualitative evaluation of each US state’s department of health website content for vaccine eligibility and availability conducted in February 2021 found that of the 47 states providing eligibility information, 57% did not support eligibility verification, and 83% presented eligibility information at a post-high school reading level. Only half of all states provided web-based appointment scheduling, 92% of which required the user to search multiple vaccine locations individually for availability. Websites from 9 states (18%) were in English only, and 7 states (14%) did not support complete smartphone viewability. 30 states (60%) had no indicator of when information was last updated.

Howe et al. (May 26, 2021). Accessibility and Usability of State Health Department COVID-19 Vaccine Websites. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.14861