The Global Health Security Index is not predictive of vaccine rollout responses among OECD countries

Banda A Khalifa; Enoch J Abbey; Samuel K Ayeh; Hasiya E Yusuf; Richard D Nudotor; Ngozi Osuji; Samiha Khan; Esosa Nosakhare; Modupe O Oduwole; Emmanuella L Salia; Oluwatobi Lasisi; Petros C Karakousis

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.034

The Global Health Security Index is not predictive of vaccine rollout responses among OECD countries

Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Dec:113:7-11. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.034. Epub 2021 Sep 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore MD, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore MD, USA; Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁶ University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
⁷ Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore MD, USA; Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: petros@jhmi.edu.

Abstract

Objective: This study sought to evaluate the utility of the Global Health Security (GHS) index in predicting the launch of COVID-19 vaccine rollout by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries.

Methods: Country-level data on the preparedness to respond to infectious disease threats through vaccination rollout were collected using the GHS index. OECD member countries were rank-ordered based on the percentage of their populations fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Rank-ordering was conducted from the lowest to the highest, with each country assigned a score ranging from 1 to 33. Spearman's rank correlation between the GHS index and the percentage of the population that is fully vaccinated was also performed.

Results: Israel, ranked 34^th in the world on the GHS index for pandemic preparedness, had the highest percentage of the population that was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within 2 months of the global vaccine rollout. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient between GHS index and the percentage of population fully vaccinated was -0.1378, with a p-value of 0.43.

Conclusion: The findings suggest an absence of correlation between the GHS index rating and the COVID-19 vaccine rollout of OECD countries, indicating that the preparedness of OECD countries for infectious disease threats may not be accurately reflected by the GHS index.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; Global Health Security Index; Health preparedness; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); Pandemic.

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID-19*
Global Health
Humans
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development*
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines