Cash, and "Drops": Boosting vaccine registrations

Suah, Jing Lian (2021): Cash, and "Drops": Boosting vaccine registrations.

Abstract

Demand (registrations), supply (availability of vaccines), and throughput (administering of vaccines) are key determinants of the progress of vaccination drives globally, including Malaysia's National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (Program Imunisasi COVID-19 Kebangsaan, PICK). This paper will focus on the first determinant - demand. Specifically, were major policy "shocks" effective in influencing vaccine registrations? Between 24 February 2021 to 14 June 2021 when the PICK was in progress, several interventions were applied in select districts and states. These provided "natural experiments" to assess the effect of certain policy interventions on vaccine demand. In this paper, we assess the effect of two types of interventions on vaccine registrations in the PICK programme in a difference-in-difference (DiD) and panel event study settings - (1) a cash transfer programme for vaccine recipients, and (2) two instances of parallel opt-in "first come, first serve" queues. Finally, we rationalise these findings in a simple model of individual demand with preference shocks.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: COVID-19, vaccination drive, panel event study, difference-in-difference
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search ; Learning ; Information and Knowledge ; Communication ; Belief ; Unawareness; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I15 - Health and Economic Development; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health

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