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Vaccination take-up and health: evidence from a flu vaccination program for the elderly

Author

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  • Yleania Brilli
  • Claudio Lucifora

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
    Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

  • Antonio Russo
  • Marco Tonello

Abstract

We analyze the effects of a vaccination program providing free flu vaccine to individuals aged 65 or more on take-up and hospitalization. By using linked patient-general practitioner (GP) data, we implement a regression discontinuity design around the threshold at age 65. We find that the program increases vaccination take-up by 6 percentage points, which corresponds to 75% of the take-up for non-eligible individuals, and reduces the probability of hospitalization by about 44%. We show that the effect on take-up is not entirely due to an income channel, and that the effect on health is mainly driven by patients with higher-quality GPs and emergency hospitalizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Yleania Brilli & Claudio Lucifora & Antonio Russo & Marco Tonello, 2019. "Vaccination take-up and health: evidence from a flu vaccination program for the elderly," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def082, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie1:def082
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    Cited by:

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    2. Boitani, Andrea & Dragomirescu-Gaina, Catalin, 2023. "News and narratives: A cointegration analysis of Russian economic policy uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    3. Pieroni, Luca & Roig, Melcior Rosselló & Salmasi, Luca, 2023. "Italy: Immigration and the evolution of populism," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Basiglio Stefania & Foresta Alessandra & Turati Gilberto, 2021. "Impatience and crime. Evidence from the NLSY97," Working papers 073, Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    5. Daniele Checchi & Alessandra Fenizia & Claudio Lucifora, 2021. "PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS: Working in the public sector in Europe and the US," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def107, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    6. Fanfani, Bernardo, 2022. "Tastes for discrimination in monopsonistic labour markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Humlum, Maria Knoth & Morthorst, Marius Opstrup & Thingholm, Peter Rønø, 2022. "Sibling Spillovers and the Choice to Get Vaccinated: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," IZA Discussion Papers 15109, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Hirani, Jonas Cuzulan & Wüst, Miriam, 2022. "Nurses and infant vaccination coverage," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 402-428.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    vaccination; influenza; public health; health prevention policies.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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