National interest may require distributing COVID-19 vaccines to other countries

Authors: Rotesi, Tiziano;

Pin, Paolo;

Cucciniello, Maria;

Malik, Amyn A.;

Paintsil, Elliott E.;

Bokemper, Scott E.;

Willebrand, Kathryn;

Huber, Gregory A. ;

Melegaro, Alessia;

Omer, Saad B.

Source: Rotesi , T , Pin , P , Cucciniello , M , Malik , A A , Paintsil , E E , Bokemper , S E , Willebrand , K , Huber , G A , Melegaro , A & Omer , S B 2021 , ' National interest may require distributing COVID-19 vaccines to other countries ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 11 , no. 1 , 18253 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97544-5

Full text

Abstract

As immunization campaigns are accelerating, understanding how to distribute the scarce doses of vaccines is of paramount importance and a quantitative analysis of the trade-offs involved in domestic-only versus cooperative distribution is still missing. In this study we use a network Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) model to show circumstances under which it is in a country’s self-interest to ensure other countries can obtain COVID-19 vaccines rather than focusing only on vaccination of their own residents. In particular, we focus our analysis on the United States and estimate the internal burden of COVID-19 disease under different scenarios about vaccine cooperation. We show that in scenarios in which the US has reached the threshold for domestic herd immunity, the US may find it optimal to donate doses to other countries with lower vaccination coverage, as this would allow for a sharp reduction in the inflow of infected individuals from abroad.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Cite as

Rotesi, T., Pin, P., Cucciniello, M., Malik, A., Paintsil, E., Bokemper, S., Willebrand, K., Huber, G., Melegaro, A. & Omer, S. 2021, 'National interest may require distributing COVID-19 vaccines to other countries'Rotesi, T , Pin , P , Cucciniello , M , Malik , A A , Paintsil , E E , Bokemper , S E , Willebrand , K , Huber , G A , Melegaro , A & Omer , S B 2021 , ' National interest may require distributing COVID-19 vaccines to other countries ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 11 , no. 1 , 18253 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97544-5. https://publichealthscotland.scot/id/45049

Downloadable citations

HTML BIB RIS

Identifiers

Permanent URI on the repository: https://publichealthscotland.scot/id/45049