# A scoping review protocol on childhood immunization reminder strategies available to parents in Canada and the United States of America

## TL;DR

This scoping review will examine immunization reminder strategies for parents in Canada and the USA to improve childhood vaccination rates and address disparities.

## Contribution

The study will map existing literature on reminder strategies and their impact on vaccine uptake, particularly among Black parents.

## Key findings

- Current literature suggests vaccine reminders may improve measles vaccine uptake among Black parents in the USA.
- There is limited data on vaccine uptake in Canadian children of Black parents, indicating potential vaccine hesitancy.
- The review will identify parental preferences for reminder strategies to inform public health interventions.

## Abstract

Vaccine-preventable diseases continue to cause morbidity and mortality despite the introduction of childhood immunizations. Recent media reports from Canada and the United States of America (USA) have highlighted a rise in childhood illnesses like measles, which could have been prevented with vaccines. Parents play a pivotal role in ensuring their children receive timely vaccinations. Immunization reminders can help parents who forget or miss vaccination appointments. In the USA, current literature indicates that Black children have lower vaccination rates than other racialized children and vaccine reminders may improve measles vaccine uptake among Black parents. However, there is limited data in Canada on vaccine uptake in children of Black parents, with evidence suggesting vaccine hesitancy among the Black population.

This scoping review aims to map out existing literature on immunization reminder strategies among parents to identify their impact in improving childhood vaccination rates and promoting child health.

The review will include studies conducted in Canada and the United States of America that focus on immunization reminders for parents who have children under six years and published in English between 2015 and 2025.

Database and hand-searching of journals and gray literature will be carried out to retrieve pertinent articles. Studies that meet the inclusion criteria will be eligible for selection. The process of selecting eligible studies will then be summarized on a PRISMA-ScR chart. Collated in data-extraction tables will be authorship information, publication date, methods and findings. The findings, key arguments and themes will be analyzed using a thematic analysis and summarized using a narrative summary.

This review will contribute to the existing knowledge on parental preferences for vaccine reminder strategies and their usefulness in increasing childhood vaccination rates. The findings will inform and improve public health strategies aimed at boosting vaccine uptake among children.