{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,25]],"date-time":"2026-07-25T04:17:11Z","timestamp":1784953031260,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":8,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]],"date-time":"2022-09-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1664409600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of South Florida COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines is a critical challenge worldwide, given that the pandemic has been disproportionally affecting economically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. In the United States, the ongoing implementation efforts at different administrative levels and districts, to some extent, are standing in conflict with commitments to mitigate inequities. In this study, we developed a spatial optimization model to choose the best locations for vaccination sites. The model is a modified two-step maximal covering location problem (MCLP). It aims at maximizing the number of residents who can conveniently access the sites and mitigating inequity issues by prioritizing disadvantaged population groups who live in geographic areas identified through the CDC\u2019s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). We conducted our study using the case of Hillsborough County, Florida. We found that by reserving up to 30% of total vaccines for highly vulnerable communities, our model can optimize location choices for vaccination sites to provide effective coverage for residents at large while prioritizing disadvantaged groups of people. A series of sensitivity analyses have been performed to evaluate the impact of parameters such as site capacity and distance threshold. The model has the potential to guide the future allocation of critical medical resources in the U.S. and other countries.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph191912443","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]],"date-time":"2022-09-29T21:03:10Z","timestamp":1664485390000},"page":"12443","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Location Optimization of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites: Case in Hillsborough County, Florida"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Yuzhou","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4618-1893","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ran","family":"Tao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joni","family":"Downs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1016\/j.puhe.2020.05.006","article-title":"Poverty, inequality and COVID-19: The forgotten vulnerable","volume":"183","author":"Patel","year":"2020","journal-title":"Public Health"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Biden, J.R. (2021). National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness: January 2021, Simon and Schuster."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2020). Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine, National Academies Press."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1298","DOI":"10.1038\/s41591-021-01379-6","article-title":"Equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States","volume":"27","author":"Schmidt","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat. Med."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cabanilla, K.I.M., Enriquez, E.A.T., Mendoza, R., and Mendoza, V.M.P. (2021). Optimal Selection of COVID-19 Vaccination Sites at the Municipal Level. medRxiv.","DOI":"10.1101\/2021.06.20.21259194"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1002\/nav.22007","article-title":"Where to locate COVID-19 mass vaccination facilities?","volume":"69","author":"Bertsimas","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nav. Res. Logist."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"319","DOI":"10.1080\/19475683.2020.1833365","article-title":"Examining spatial accessibility to COVID-19 testing sites in Florida","volume":"26","author":"Tao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ann. GIS"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1435-5597.1974.tb00902.x","article-title":"The maximal covering location problem","volume":"Volume 32","author":"Church","year":"1974","journal-title":"Papers of the Regional Science Association"}],"container-title":["International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/19\/19\/12443\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:42:07Z","timestamp":1760143327000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/19\/19\/12443"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]},"references-count":8,"journal-issue":{"issue":"19","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10]]}},"alternative-id":["ijerph191912443"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijerph191912443","relation":{},"ISSN":["1660-4601"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1660-4601","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]}}}