Equity considerations in COVID-19 vaccine allocation modelling: a methodological study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Equity
• Mathematical Modeling

Background:

• Equitable vaccine allocation is crucial during pandemics.
• Previous studies highlight the need for equity-focused modeling.
• Assessing current modeling practices for equity is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate how often equity is considered in COVID-19 vaccine allocation models.
• To demonstrate the utility of modeling for addressing health equity.
• To propose guidelines for incorporating equity into future allocation models.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of COVID-19 vaccine allocation modeling literature.
• Analysis of publications for consideration of equity and subgroup data.
• Identification of studies that successfully incorporated equity.

Main Results:

• The majority of reviewed models did not account for equity.
• Most publications presented aggregated results, lacking subgroup analysis (e.g., by age, race, geography).
• A few models successfully addressed equity, providing valuable insights.

Conclusions:

• Current COVID-19 vaccine allocation models often fail to address health equity.
• Modeling can be a powerful tool for ensuring equitable resource distribution.
• Eight key considerations are proposed for enhancing equity in future allocation models.