COVID-19 Vaccination in Singapore – Impact on Socio-Economic Recovery
The National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCSS) is one of global leading cancer centres delivering patient care. As such, it faced challenges of providing necessary care to patients in the early phase of the global pandemic. Hence, the NCSS wanted to understand the following key questions to address overwhelming challenges caused by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic:
1. How much does the COVID-19 vaccination programme need to work and what is the meaning of herd immunity before Singapore can resume more normal travels and commerce? Will there be a major disruption in the way we travel and trade even after the successful implementation of the nationwide vaccination programme? If so, how and why. Which sector will be winners and losers of the post-COVID-19 world?
2. Who should get the vaccine first, how should the vaccine be given in large countries? Who should pay for the vaccine? Discuss the vaccine cynics, freedom of choice and why they have this mindset. If the population is large like Indonesia, what is a viable immunization strategy? Are large developing countries going to be disadvantaged in terms of challenges in the medical and public health support and infrastructure, geographical distribution of the vaccine, immunization coverage, and compliance and cultural challenges to getting the covid-19 vaccine?
The goal of the project is to answer the above questions as best as possible.
Throughout the project, students applied the health economics knowledge they learned in class to solve the real-world problem devastating the human race. The scale and speed of the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented and students had to think everything from scratch. Students came up with rigorous analyses about the economic and health impact of COVID-19 and came up with create solution on how to best deliver and distribute COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries settings with a large population (e.g., India and Indonesia). In addition, students explored a variety of novel ideas about how to fight vaccine skepticisms and misinformation.
"This SMU-X course offers an opportunity to interact with leading players in the industry and apply academic knowledge obtained from lectures to the real world. It also help students better understand the expectation of potential employers for them and what types of work they will actually perform when they are hired after graduation.” - Dr KIM Seonghoon, School of Economics
"I very much enjoyed being invited co-faculty with Professor Kim Seonghoon for the SMU Health Economics X student projects which pivots on a highly relevant topic : covering the background, science, logistics, operations, modelling, challenges, socio-economic impact and outcomes of national Covid-19 vaccination in small and large nations. From inception with the excellent coordinating lead John Tay to zoom preparations with the respective energetic student groups to the actual live presentations and interactive discussions, I found the exercise meaningful, interesting and educational for both students and myself. The varied original solutions for covid-19 vaccination presented by the student groups were impressive. The SMU X Economics programme leverages on an inter-disciplinary faculty which is critical to solving these important questions that like in the real world, needs a convergence of many expertise."" - Dr Toh Han Chong, Senior Consultant & Deputy Medical Director (Strategic Partnerships, National Cancer Centre Singapore