Trade-Offs between Vaccine Effectiveness and Vaccine Safety: Personal versus Policy Decisions.

Abstract

Objective

We aimed to investigate whether individuals' trade-offs between vaccine effectiveness and vaccine safety vary if they are asked to consider the perspective of a policymaker making decisions for others compared with the decisions they would make for themselves.

Method

A web-enabled discrete choice experiment survey was administered between 1 April and 1 May 2022 to participants recruited from the general population of two Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia and Vietnam). In each country, 500 participants were randomly assigned to make decisions regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines for others as a policymaker or in a personal capacity for their own use. Vaccines were characterized by three attributes: (1) effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing infection rate; (2) effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing hospitalization among those infected; and (3) risk of death from vaccine-related serious adverse events. A mixed logit model was utilized for analyses.

Results

Based on the attributes and levels used in this study, the most important vaccine attribute was the risk of death from vaccine-related adverse events, followed by effectiveness in reducing infection rate and hospitalizations. Compared with personal decisions, the mean probability of choosing a vaccine was (1) lower, and (2) more sensitive to the changes in risk of death from adverse events in policy decisions (p ≤ 0.01).

Conclusions and relevance

Our results suggest that, in the face of an infectious disease pandemic, individuals are likely to be more risk-averse to vaccine-related deaths when making decisions for others as a policymaker than they would for themselves.

Department

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1007/s41669-023-00442-x

Publication Info

Ozdemir, Semra, Sean Ng, Vinh Anh Huynh, Axel Mühlbacher, Hiang Khoon Tan and Eric Andrew Finkelstein (2023). Trade-Offs between Vaccine Effectiveness and Vaccine Safety: Personal versus Policy Decisions. PharmacoEconomics - open. 10.1007/s41669-023-00442-x Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/29336.

This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.

Scholars@Duke

Ozdemir

Semra Ozdemir

Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences

Dr. Ozdemir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University and is affiliated with Duke Clinical Research Institute. She also holds a joint appointment at the Signature Programme in Health Services and Systems Research at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. Dr. Ozdemir’s research focuses on three areas of medical decision making: 1) assessing individuals’ preferences and values for healthcare services and products, 2) understanding the medical decision-making process among patients, their family caregivers, and clinicians, and 3) developing decision aids or tools to help individuals make better-informed medical decisions. She uses survey methods, cohort studies, and implementation science principles to conduct research in these areas.

Dr. Ozdemir is an expert in stated-preference methods and shared decision-making tools. Dr. Ozdemir led a large team of health communication and decision science experts and clinicians in the development of an educational and preference-based decision aid for older patients with end-stage kidney disease who are considering dialysis or kidney supportive care. She is an Associate Editor for Value in Health and has served on the editorial boards for Medical Decision Making and Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. She is also the co-chair of the Shared Decision Making Special Interest Group for the Society for Medical Decision Making.

Dr. Ozdemir has a personal interest and commitment to eliminating disparities in making quality medical decisions and promoting diversity stemming from her personal experience, professional career, and many years of living and working in different countries. She loves running, paddling, travelling, and cheering for her sons in their soccer games and bike races.

Areas of expertise: Medical decision making, shared decision making, health preference assessment, stated-preference methods, decision aid research.

Finkelstein

Eric Andrew Finkelstein

Professor in Population Health Sciences

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