Optimal age-Based vaccination and economic mitigation policies for the second phase of the covid-19 pandemic

Andrew Glover, Jonathan Heathcote and Dirk Krueger

Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2022, vol. 140, issue C

Abstract: In this paper we ask how to best allocate a given time-varying supply of vaccines during the second phase of the Covid-19 pandemic across individuals of different ages. Building on our previous heterogeneous household model of optimal economic mitigation and redistribution (Glover et al., 2021) we contrast the actual vaccine deployment path that prioritized older, retired individuals with one that first vaccinates younger workers. Vaccinating the old first saves more lives but slows the economic recovery, relative to inoculating the young first. Vaccines deliver large welfare benefits in both scenarios (relative to a world without vaccines), but the old-first policy is optimal under a utilitarian social welfare function. The welfare gains from having vaccinated the old first are especially significant once the economy is hit by a more infectious Delta variant in the summer of 2021.

Keywords: COVID-19; Vaccination paths (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E21 E63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Optimal Age-Based Vaccination and Economic Mitigation Policies for the Second Phase of the Covid-19 Pandemic (2022)
Working Paper: Optimal Age-Based Vaccination and Economic Mitigation Policies for the Second Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:140:y:2022:i:c:s0165188922000112

DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2022.104306

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