Abstract

This paper examines the impact of price, income, health insurance, and education on the uptake of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine “Gardasil” developed by Merck in 2008. The paper explores the relevant economic theory, particularly Grossman’s model for demand of health capital, and reviews literature of HPV vaccine uptake and cost effectiveness analysis. Using U.S. state average data from the CDC and U.S. Census Bureau 2010-2014, my panel data regression model tries to show how price, income, health insurance, and educational attainment impact HPV uptake rates. My hypothesis is that HPV vaccine price, the level of family income, health insurance and education should raise HPV vaccine uptake on the state average level. My results show a significant unexpected positive correlation between price and uptake, which may be due to limits of using national average price data. This result may show a raise in HPV vaccine demand over time. No significant evidence of correlation was found for income, health insurance, or education in my analysis.

Advisor

Burnell, Barbara

Department

Economics

Disciplines

Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Public Health

Keywords

HPV, Human Papillomavirus, Immunization, vaccine uptake, uptake, Cost effectiveness analysis, Grossman's Model

Publication Date

2016

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2016 Joshua P. Miller