Valvax · Evaluating the Long-Run Socioeconomic Effects of Childhood Vaccination

Evaluating the Long-Run Socioeconomic Effects of Childhood Vaccination

This MSCA research project “Quantifying the Long-Run Social Value of Childhood Vaccination” (Valvax) combines research in the fields of economics and clinical sciences to ask the overarching research question: What are the long-run social benefits attributable to early childhood access and experience with vaccines? To answer this question, I use the historical 1954 Salk polio vaccine trial and detailed individual-level microdata to study the socio-effects of childhood vaccination. With over 1.8 million child participants ages 6-10, the Salk trial is the largest medical trial ever conducted. The development, procurement, and provision of vaccines rely on public investment and government support. Undervaluation of vaccines and their long-run socioeconomic effects could result in suboptimal investment in this crucial foundation of public health. Furthermore, lack of evidence regarding long-term non-specific effects is one of the main concerns among the growing number of “vaccine-skeptics.” Using the context of the 1954 Salk vaccine trial, this project explores how such temporary expansions in healthcare provision can reverberate across time and affect public health more broadly than just reducing the incidence of the targeted disease. The goals of this project are to study how the Salk Vaccine trial of 1954 affects the provision of health services in a time and place where governments provide few if any healthcare services. This effort includes examining how a transitory vaccine trial influenced uptake in polio vaccines over the 1950s, the likelihood that places participating in the trial hosted vaccine clinics or organized large-scale public vaccination efforts, and the effects on mortality patterns.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union