ISBis20 | Saving lives, saving the economy | Prof Sarang Deo and Prof Sripad Devalkar

The pandemic necessitated India to embark on one of the world's most extensive vaccination campaigns ever to be undertaken, with 960 million eligible adults in January 2021 to be vaccinated. In this episode, Professors Sarang Deo and Sripad Devalkar share insights on the formal supply chain model they developed in collaboration with the Center for Global Development Europe (CGDE). Their research aimed to devise a cost-effective vaccination campaign design and adopt alternative approaches to optimise the use of limited vaccine quantity and resources. For example: prioritising rural areas with a lower prevalence of COVID after the first wave and before the commencement of the vaccination campaign compared to the urban regions. The model was developed with a team of epidemiologists and health economists.