Over the course of Summer 2021, I worked with Professor Atwood and Zoe Tolbert on a project dealing with the long-run economic impacts of the measles vaccine. In her paper published earlier this year, Professor Atwood conducted this research in the context of the  United States. She found that exposure to the measles vaccine was associated with a 1.1% increase in annual income, which can be attributed to the increased productivity that results from a healthier childhood. Our goal for the summer was to replicate this analysis in other countries. I researched the measles vaccine in Italy, while Zoe focused on England & Wales.

The summer began with research into the measles virus itself. Before the advent of the vaccine, measles was a universal disease, and nearly every child contracted measles before the age of sixteen. There is substantial evidence that infection by the measles virus has a prolonged suppressive effect on the immune system by causing an “immune memory loss” that lasts years and leaves children more vulnerable to other infections, which can potentially lead to severe, long-term complications. Vaccinated children therefore avoid not just measles, but the years-long weakened immune system resulting from it.

Measles Rates Over Time (Click to view in separate tab)

As the summer progressed, I shifted my focus towards Italy. The measles vaccine was licensed in Italy in 1976, but due to a cost disincentive, uptake of the vaccine was slow and regionally heterogeneous. This response was further compounded by the lack of a centrally coordinated national vaccination effort. In addition, a substantial portion of the Italian population is considered vaccine-hesitant, which can primarily be traced to a thoroughly disproven and since-retracted 1998 study drawing a causal link between Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccination and autism. Vaccine hesitancy is relatively widespread in Italy and has prevented the country from maintaining herd immunity from measles in recent years.

My experience this summer with the Ford Scholars program has been invaluable. With the help of Professor Atwood and the advice of several other professors, I have significantly developed my research skills and my understanding of data analysis. The research subject itself has been intellectually engaging, comprehensive, and thought-provoking — I learned much about epidemiology, biology, the social impacts of vaccines, and the relationship between vaccinations, health, and productivity. This research is especially meaningful to me in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which public confidence in the benefits of vaccines – not just with regard to health, but also economic well-being – has been more important than ever before.