Efficiency in COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns—A Comparison across Germany’s Federal States

Abstract

Vaccination programs are considered a central pillar of the efforts to stop COVID-19. However, vaccine doses are scarce and several organizational and logistical obstacles, such as the timing of and reserves for second shots and delivery failures, apparently slow down vaccination roll-outs in several countries. Moreover, it is an open question as to where vaccines are administered as efficiently as possible (vaccination centers, hospitals, doctor’s offices, pharmacists, etc.). The first aim of our study was to systematically evaluate the efficiency of a country’s vaccination campaign. The second aim was to analyze how the integration of doctors’ offices into a campaign that formerly relied only on vaccination centers affected the speed of that campaign. Using data on vaccine deliveries and vaccinations given in Germany, we find considerable differences across federal states in terms of efficiency, defined as the ability to administer the most vaccinations out of a given number of available doses. Back-of-the-envelope calculations for January to May 2021 show that vaccinations would have been 3.4–6.9% higher if all federal states had adopted a similar ratio between vaccinations given and vaccines stored, as the most efficient states did. This corresponds to 1.7–3.3% of Germany’s total population. In terms of our second research goal, we find evidence that the integration of doctors’ offices into the vaccination campaign significantly increased the ratio of vaccinations administered out of a given stock of vaccine doses. On average, there appears to be a structural break in this ratio after doctors’ offices were integrated into the vaccination campaign on 5 April 2021. On average, an additional 11.6 out of 100 available doses were administered each week compared to the period prior to that date. We conclude that there are considerable regional differences in the efficiency of the vaccination roll-out. Systematic efficiency analyses are one step to detecting inefficiencies and to identify best practices that can be adopted to eventually speed up the vaccination roll-out in a country.

Evaluation of FIB-4, NFS, APRI and Liver Function Tests as Predictors for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Elderly Population: A Matched Case-Control Analysis

“…With time passing, COVID-19 becomes a “mature” infection that becomes better understood by its molecular mechanisms and effects on the human body. The development of an efficient vaccine and a strong vaccination campaign among developed countries [ 33 , 34 , 35 ], with over 4.5 billion people vaccinated worldwide at the time of the study [ 36 ], allowed the populations at risk, such as the elderly, to become less vulnerable to COVID-19 [ 37 , 38 ]. However, the multitude of SARS-CoV-2 mutations that occurred allowed the virus to escape some immune mechanisms, determining infection with complications even in triple-vaccinated patients [ 39 ].…”

China’s COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy and Its Impact on the Global Pandemic

“…By the end of August 2021, 5.29 billion doses of vaccine had been given globally, 67.22 doses per 100 people. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] China has received a total of 2.06 billion doses, 142.84 doses per 100 people. 1 The global distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is not balanced.…”

China's COVID-19 Control Strategy and Its Impact on the Global Pandemic

“…On November 17, 2021, the People's Court of Pingxiang City, Guangxi, held a court hearing on the case of Chinese citizen Cao for the crime of obstructing frontier health and quarantine and sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment with a probation period of 3 years and a fine of RMB 200,000. On October 26, 2021, Anhui Lu'an reported a case involving two doctors who were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment for 1 year and 3 months for treating patients with fever without authorization (10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”

“…In China, although the pandemic is basically under control, repeated waves have challenged people's psychological wellbeing. People's mental health has undergone changes at different stages of the pandemic (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Since the pandemic has repeatedly occurred, people have become prone to fatigue, paralysis, carelessness, and even blind optimism.…”

“…With the national pandemic basically under control, sporadic cases have emerged in many parts of China, threatening Chinese people's safety and economic and social wellbeing (11)(12)(13)(14)(15). The repeated waves of the pandemic in China are characterized as follows: First, there are viral outbreaks at multiple locations, and the disease spreads from these epicenters (16).…”