Equitable Allocation of Vaccines in a Supply Network

Abstract

The COVAX initiative has allocated over 1.9 billion units of vaccines in a centralised framework to over 150 countries towards achieving countries’ self-reported demands. However, recipient countries are not always eligible for vaccines from all sources due to export licensing restrictions or political considerations. We formalise the efficiency and equity principles of COVAX policymakers in the face of supply network restrictions. We introduce the Serial Priority with Improvement Paths (SPIP) mechanism, which ensures an efficient and fair allocation and is robust to manipulations via demand. Our SPIP mechanism was implemented in Phase II of the COVAX initiative.

Keywords: vaccines, COVAX, COVID-19, equity, supply network.

JEL Classification: D02, D30, D47, D63.