Quality adjusted life years in the time of COVID-19
Jane Hall A B and Rosalie Viney AA Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia. Email: rosalie.viney@chere.uts.edu.au
B Corresponding author. Email: jane.hall@chere.uts.edu.au
Australian Health Review - https://doi.org/10.1071/AH21010
Submitted: 7 January 2021 Accepted: 11 January 2021 Published online: 29 January 2021
Journal Compilation © AHHA 2021 Open Access CC BY
Abstract
The quality adjusted life year (QALY) as a basis of valuing additional expenditure on health is widely accepted. Although early in the COVID-19 pandemic, several commentators called for a similar approach in resolving trade-offs between economic activity and reducing the burden of COVID-19, this has not occurred. The value of a QALY has not been used to deny all intervention, as the rule of rescue attests. Further, while there was no other way of managing the pandemic, there were other means available to mitigate the economic losses. Now that vaccine programs have commenced in several countries, it is interesting to consider whether economic evaluation should now be applied. However, the recognised complexities of the evaluation of vaccines, plus the challenge of measuring opportunity costs in the face of an economic recession and the severity of the consequences of an outbreak even though the probability of transmission is exceedingly low, mean its use will be restricted. COVID-19 has changed everything, even the way we should think about economic evaluation.
Keywords: Australia, COVID-19, economic evaluation, epidemiology, health economics, opportunity cost, quality adjusted life year (QALY), vaccines.
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