Factors Affecting Vaccination Demand in the United States

A multitude of healthcare economics research has been focused on determining the optimal vaccination rate in the United States; many of these studies propose taxes or subsidies as vehicles through which society can achieve the determined ideal uptake. However, there is no guarantee that price adjustments can necessarily change individuals’ behavior. To reach a given target uptake, it is therefore necessary to understand what motivates their decision-making. This study applies the Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1996) method to calculate price elasticity for vaccinations most commonly obtained by children to enter school and finds demand to be extremely price inelas- tic. Furthermore, regression analyses conducted in this study find that positive attitudes toward vaccination greatly improve the odds of vaccinating, and also discover strong correlation between certain demographic variables and attitudes towards immunizations.