Estimating willingness to pay for the Covid-19 vaccine using the conditional valuation method

Abstract

Objective: Conditional valuation method is one of the methods of estimating the willingness to pay and is a cost-benefit analysis. The aim of the present study was to estimate the average willingness of individuals to pay for the Covid-19 vaccine with a one-year and long-term protection period and to assess its contributing factors. Methods: The present study was a descriptive research. The required data were collected from 370 two-dimensional online questionnaires at the end of November 2020 from Iranians. Conditional valuation method and logit model were used to estimate peoples’ willingness to pay. Results: The results showed that 65.67 percent of people are willing to pay for the vaccine. The household income, age, history of having chronic disease, history of Covid-19, attitude, recommended amount and having an elderly person in the family had a positive and significant effect on long-term vaccination and age, household income, history of having chronic disease, attitude and the amount offered had a positive and significant effect on annual vaccination. Also, the average willingness to pay was 3,750,000 Rials per person for long-term vaccination, and 1,130,000 Rials per year. Conclusion: In conditional valuation studies, individuals typically offer a lower bid for the policy under study. However, this study indicated that people are willing to pay more for vaccinations. The findings might have some implications for policy