The optimal allocation of Covid-19 vaccines

Ana Babus, Sanmay Das and SangMok Lee

Economics Letters, 2023, vol. 224, issue C

Abstract: We develop a simple model of vaccine prioritization for a potential pandemic. We illustrate how the model applies to the case of Covid-19, using an early 2020 primitive estimate of occupation-based exposure risks and age-based infection fatality rates. Even based on primitive estimates the vaccine distribution strongly emphasizes age-based mortality risk rather than occupation-based exposure risk. Among others, our result suggests that 50-year-old food-processing workers and 60-year-old financial advisors should have been equally prioritized. We also find that the priorities minimally change when certain populations’ exposure risks are altered by targeted stay-at-home orders or call-up of essential workers.

Keywords: Optimal assignment; Occupational health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H4 I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: The Optimal Allocation of Covid-19 Vaccines (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:224:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523000332

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111008

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