The moral mathematics of valuing vaccines

Date:

Tuesday, 25 June 2019

Time:

10.00am – 11.00am

Venue:

Conference Rooms 1 and 2, Level 10
Tahir Foundation Building (MD1)
Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
National University of Singapore
12 Science Drive 2, S(117549)

Synopsis:

How should we balance distribution of vaccines between countries that can afford to pay for them and countries that may benefit the most from them? Should we use a vaccine that may benefit some people and harm others – and if so how? Should we prioritise immediate health gains over long-term benefits of vaccines? All these questions lie at the intersection of economics, mathematics and moral philosophy. This talk will discuss how modelling and economics research around how vaccines are valued has informed decisions around the world, and what happens when such research interacts with the values that different people hold.

About the speaker:

Mark Jit is professor of vaccine epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), principal scientist in the Modelling and Economics Unit of Public Health England (PHE) and visiting professor at the School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. His research group focuses on epidemiological and economic modelling of vaccines to support evidence-based public health decision making. He has published over 150 papers covering a range of antigens including measles, HPV, pneumococcus, rotavirus, influenza, dengue, EV71 and RSV as well as methodological papers advancing the ways vaccines are evaluated. This work has influenced many of the major changes to immunisation policy in the UK and globally.