COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Under the Coordination of Public Health Organizations

Abstract

Vaccines are essential in combating emerging viruses, yet significant disparities in access persist across countries. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical need for public health coordination, with countries leading vaccine distribution playing a pivotal role in shaping allocation strategies. This study integrates an epidemiological framework to develop a vaccine allocation model under public health coordination. From the vaccine-producing country (VPC) perspective, we propose a myopic allocation strategy that prevents vaccine hoarding while maintaining domestic outbreak control, outperforming epidemic-threshold-based approaches. We also assess the effectiveness of allocation rules, including basic rules based on population size, epidemic severity, COVAX’s two-phase rules, and rules based on network centrality. Results show that population-based allocation is the most effective in reducing global infections. Additionally, we analyze VPCs’ dynamic allocation process, providing insights for public health coordination.