A 'hybrid' AI chatbot may help boost pneumococcal vaccine uptake

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-10-09 02:00

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Chinese, Australian and US scientists say a 'hybrid' artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot could help boost pneumococcal vaccine uptake. The hybrid chatbot combines the ability to answer questions in a human-sounding way with a strict set of rules about the information it can deliver. The team set up a 'gold standard' clinical trial of the chatbot including 374 people in Hong Kong aged 65 or older. Half used the hybrid chatbot that could answer their questions quickly, while the other half used a chatbot that could not, instead sending them a link to an online video about pneumococcal vaccines. At the end of the study, the team found 29.4% of those using the hybrid chatbot had had their pneumococcal vaccine, compared with 18.7% who used the standard chatbot. The findings suggest a hybrid chatbot may serve as a sustainable strategy to promote vaccine uptake among older adults, the authors conclude.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Sydney, The University of Melbourne, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, China

Funder: This study was supported by grant 20190972 from the Health and Medical Research Fund, Health Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region toWang (PI), Poon, Han,Wong, and Mo.

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