{"title":"Public Preference for Financing Preventive Vaccines in Health Shocks: The Case of COVID-19 Vaccines in a Middle-Income Country.","authors":"Najmeh Moradi, Leila Zarei, Narges Hajimoladarvish, Zahra Meshkani, Marzieh Zanganeh, Jafar Babapour, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani","doi":"10.1007/s41669-024-00494-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>To effectively manage health crises such as disease pandemics, health authorities require reliable information regarding people's preferences. This helps to ensure timely and targeted interventions and avoids increasing societal costs through developing evidence-based policies. This study investigates the Iranian people's preference for financing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines and the factors affecting this.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional survey was performed during the third-wave peak of COVID-19 in Iran from 1 to 20 February 2021 utilizing various data collection methods. The public preference regarding imported and domestically produced vaccines, their willingness to fully or partially contribute to the financing of these vaccines, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for domestically produced vaccines using the contingent valuation method was assessed in different scenarios. The determinants of the probability of positive financing preferences were evaluated using an ordered probit regression model.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 2071 survey respondents, approximately 60% stated willingness to contribute to vaccine financing in the form of partial or full user fee payments. Forty percent of respondents are willing to be vaccinated if it is provided for free by the government. Interestingly, people's preference for financing the vaccine was not related to the type of vaccine. The regression analysis showed that income, having supplementary insurance, being male, perceived COVID-19 risk, education, and working in the health sector are significantly related to a higher probability of contribution to vaccine financing.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Regardless of country of origin of COVID-19 vaccines, vaccination is very important for the Iranian people, and the majority of respondents in our study showed an inclination to contribute to vaccine funding, from partial to full user fees, to achieve higher protection against COVID-19 disease. Hence, ensuring timely access to vaccines during health crises such as pandemics is imperative, as it saves lives and reduces the economic burden of disease. This commitment from the health system can be supported by financial contributions from the general public. In this regard, considering public preferences is strongly advised to policymakers.</p>","PeriodicalId":19770,"journal":{"name":"PharmacoEconomics Open","volume":" ","pages":"559-568"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11252095/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"PharmacoEconomics Open","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s41669-024-00494-7","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/5/18 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: To effectively manage health crises such as disease pandemics, health authorities require reliable information regarding people's preferences. This helps to ensure timely and targeted interventions and avoids increasing societal costs through developing evidence-based policies. This study investigates the Iranian people's preference for financing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines and the factors affecting this.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed during the third-wave peak of COVID-19 in Iran from 1 to 20 February 2021 utilizing various data collection methods. The public preference regarding imported and domestically produced vaccines, their willingness to fully or partially contribute to the financing of these vaccines, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for domestically produced vaccines using the contingent valuation method was assessed in different scenarios. The determinants of the probability of positive financing preferences were evaluated using an ordered probit regression model.
Results: Among the 2071 survey respondents, approximately 60% stated willingness to contribute to vaccine financing in the form of partial or full user fee payments. Forty percent of respondents are willing to be vaccinated if it is provided for free by the government. Interestingly, people's preference for financing the vaccine was not related to the type of vaccine. The regression analysis showed that income, having supplementary insurance, being male, perceived COVID-19 risk, education, and working in the health sector are significantly related to a higher probability of contribution to vaccine financing.
Conclusions: Regardless of country of origin of COVID-19 vaccines, vaccination is very important for the Iranian people, and the majority of respondents in our study showed an inclination to contribute to vaccine funding, from partial to full user fees, to achieve higher protection against COVID-19 disease. Hence, ensuring timely access to vaccines during health crises such as pandemics is imperative, as it saves lives and reduces the economic burden of disease. This commitment from the health system can be supported by financial contributions from the general public. In this regard, considering public preferences is strongly advised to policymakers.
期刊介绍:
PharmacoEconomics - Open focuses on applied research on the economic implications and health outcomes associated with drugs, devices and other healthcare interventions. The journal includes, but is not limited to, the following research areas:Economic analysis of healthcare interventionsHealth outcomes researchCost-of-illness studiesQuality-of-life studiesAdditional digital features (including animated abstracts, video abstracts, slide decks, audio slides, instructional videos, infographics, podcasts and animations) can be published with articles; these are designed to increase the visibility, readership and educational value of the journal’s content. In addition, articles published in PharmacoEconomics -Open may be accompanied by plain language summaries to assist readers who have some knowledge of, but not in-depth expertise in, the area to understand important medical advances.All manuscripts are subject to peer review by international experts. Letters to the Editor are welcomed and will be considered for publication.