In a survey published by Scioto Analysis this morning, 12 of 27 Ohio economists agreed Ohio's "Vax-a-Million" program is a cost-effective program for encouraging vaccination in the state. Another nine expressed uncertainty about the statement and six disagreed with it.
Among those who agreed the program was cost-effective, comments focused on the low costs of the program. Kevin Egan of the University of Toledo said “an equally expensive advertising-only campaign about benefits of vaccination would likely be less effective than this lottery program which resulted in much free publicity about it.” Michael Myler of the University of Mount Union focused on the value of a statistical life, saying “it appears to be in the 7-10 million-dollar range for one ‘average’ human.”
Others who agreed, though, were skeptical of the number of vaccinations that came about as result of the Vax-a-Million program and some had comments about the design of the program.
Among those uncertain about the program’s cost-effectiveness, some wanted to see more evaluation of the program while some were disappointed with the results they have seen so far. Bluffton University’s Jonathan Andreas said “I was hopeful about the creativity of the strategy, but in hindsight it doesn't look like it worked as well as I would have hoped. It was worth a try and now we know that the results turned out to be mediocre at best.”
Those who disagreed the program was cost-effective pointed to evidence gleaned by a study conducted by Boston University researchers that was unable to detect any increase in vaccinations caused by the program. Most vehement in disagreement was Denison University’ Fadhel Kaboub, who said “Vax-a-Million is a gambling technique that should be used by casinos rather than state institutions.”
The Ohio Economic Experts Panel is a panel of over 40 Ohio Economists from over 30 Ohio higher educational institutions conducted by Scioto Analysis. The goal of the Ohio Economic Experts Panel is to promote better policy outcomes by providing policymakers, policy influencers, and the public with the informed opinions of Ohio’s leading economists.