A vaccine. Following stringent processes

Answer

This paper discusses modeling exercise as an approach for evaluating vaccines, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), and government sites that can be employed in listing recommendations associated with MCDA. The paper is divided into two parts. Part A discusses the modeling exercise employed by Kim and Golding (2009) in their study on “cost effectiveness analysis of including boys in a human papillomavirus vaccination programme in the United States”. Part B presents a question related to the discussion post on MCDA and lists the government site on which recommendations associated with the MCDA can be posted or listed.

Part A: Modelling Exercise

Question Related to the Discussion Post

The following question is associated with the discussion post:

Question: What are the challenges encountered in employing models for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions such as vaccines in healthcare context?

Modelling Exercise

In the article entitled Cost effectiveness analysis of including boys in a human papillomavirus vaccination programme in the United States, the researchers employed the dynamic transmission, individual based microsimulation, and incidence based models. The dynamic transmission model was employed in simulating sexual transmission of HPV 18 and HPV 16 infections between men and women (Kim and Golding 2009). The individual based microsimulation mode was employed in reflecting HPV induced cervical illness in women (Kim and Golding 2009). The incidence based model was employed in estimating economic and health burden associated with non-cervical illness for women and men (Kim and Golding 2009).

In the analysis of cost-effectiveness, the predominant strategies were the calculation of the total health benefits and lifetime costs associated with every vaccination strategy. The strategies were HPV vaccination of girls aged 12 years alone and HPV vaccinations with boys aged 12 years (Kim and Golding 2009). It is significant to note that the base analysis was constructed with the aim of considering the best case scenario for executing routine vaccination (Kim and Golding 2009).

When it comes to the investigation of the uncertainty surrounding the parameters of their models, the authors focused on the assessment of the impact or effect of more conservative presumptions or suppositions such as 50 percent decrease in cases that can be attributed to the targeted types of vaccine (Kim and Golding 2009).

Part B: Discussion Post Question and List of Government Sites for Posting Recommendations Associated with the MCDA Analysis

Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) serves as a sub-discipline associated with operations research and focuses on the application or employment of advanced analytical techniques to assist in making better decisions (Frazao et al. 2018; Hansen and Devlin 2019). MCDA also finds its application in the identification of interventions for evaluations, as well as the criteria for weighting them (Thokala et al. 2016; Diaby et al. 2013). The Public Health England (PHE) Prioritisation Framework is an example of the application of MCDA. In relation to this, my question regarding this model is as follows:

Question: What are the challenges and strategies or measures for addressing challenges that can be encountered in the implementation of the Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) within the Australian context of practice?

Good communication and dissemination requires a carefully planned process (McVay et al. 2016; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) n.d.). Dissemination involves the targeted distribution of materials and information concerning an evidence-based intervention or program to a given clinical practice or public health audience (Brownson et al., 2018; NHMRC n.d.).  When it comes to the dissemination of recommendations associated with the Prioritisation Framework in Australia, I would focus on the following government sites, which are associated with large followings as suggested by NHMRC (n.d.):

• Australian clinical practice guidelines portal
• The Guideline International Network guidelines database
• Australia National Health and Medical Research Council

In conclusion, this paper has effectively discussed modeling exercise as an approach for evaluation of vaccines, presented a question related to the discussion post on MCDA and listed government sites on which recommendations associated with MCDA can be posted or outlined.