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Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida

The equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines is a critical challenge worldwide, given that the pandemic has been disproportionally affecting economically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. In the United States, the ongoing implementation efforts at different administrative levels and districts...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chen, Yuzhou, Tao, Ran, Downs, Joni
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36231743
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912443
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author Chen, Yuzhou
Tao, Ran
Downs, Joni
author_facet Chen, Yuzhou
Tao, Ran
Downs, Joni
author_sort Chen, Yuzhou
collection PubMed
description The equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines is a critical challenge worldwide, given that the pandemic has been disproportionally affecting economically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. In the United States, the ongoing implementation efforts at different administrative levels and districts, to some extent, are standing in conflict with commitments to mitigate inequities. In this study, we developed a spatial optimization model to choose the best locations for vaccination sites. The model is a modified two-step maximal covering location problem (MCLP). It aims at maximizing the number of residents who can conveniently access the sites and mitigating inequity issues by prioritizing disadvantaged population groups who live in geographic areas identified through the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). We conducted our study using the case of Hillsborough County, Florida. We found that by reserving up to 30% of total vaccines for highly vulnerable communities, our model can optimize location choices for vaccination sites to provide effective coverage for residents at large while prioritizing disadvantaged groups of people. A series of sensitivity analyses have been performed to evaluate the impact of parameters such as site capacity and distance threshold. The model has the potential to guide the future allocation of critical medical resources in the U.S. and other countries.
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spelling pubmed-95660302022-10-15 Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida Chen, Yuzhou Tao, Ran Downs, Joni Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines is a critical challenge worldwide, given that the pandemic has been disproportionally affecting economically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. In the United States, the ongoing implementation efforts at different administrative levels and districts, to some extent, are standing in conflict with commitments to mitigate inequities. In this study, we developed a spatial optimization model to choose the best locations for vaccination sites. The model is a modified two-step maximal covering location problem (MCLP). It aims at maximizing the number of residents who can conveniently access the sites and mitigating inequity issues by prioritizing disadvantaged population groups who live in geographic areas identified through the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). We conducted our study using the case of Hillsborough County, Florida. We found that by reserving up to 30% of total vaccines for highly vulnerable communities, our model can optimize location choices for vaccination sites to provide effective coverage for residents at large while prioritizing disadvantaged groups of people. A series of sensitivity analyses have been performed to evaluate the impact of parameters such as site capacity and distance threshold. The model has the potential to guide the future allocation of critical medical resources in the U.S. and other countries. MDPI 2022-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9566030/ /pubmed/36231743 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912443 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chen, Yuzhou
Tao, Ran
Downs, Joni
Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida
title Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida
title_full Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida
title_fullStr Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida
title_full_unstemmed Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida
title_short Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida
title_sort location optimization of covid-19 vaccination sites: case in hillsborough county, florida
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36231743
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912443
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