A mass vaccination site selection problem: An application of GIS and entropy-based MAUT approach


Çetinkaya C., Erbaş M., KABAK M., Özceylan E.

Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, vol.85, 2023 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 85
  • Publication Date: 2023
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.seps.2022.101376
  • Journal Name: Socio-Economic Planning Sciences
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, EconLit, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Index Islamicus, INSPEC, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Keywords: COVID-19, Entropy, GIS, Mass vaccination, MAUT, Site selection
  • Gazi University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

© 2022 Elsevier LtdCoronavirus disease (COVID-19) was recognized in December 2019 and spread very severely throughout the world. In 2022 May, the total death numbers reached 6.28 million people worldwide. During the pandemic, some alternative vaccines were discovered in the middle of 2020. Today, many countries are struggling to supply vaccines and vaccinate their citizens. Besides the difficulties of vaccine supply, mass vaccination is a challenging but mandatory task for the countries. Within this context, determining the mass vaccination site is very important for recovering, thus a five-step approach is generated in this paper to solve this real-life problem. Firstly the mass vaccination site selection criteria are determined, and secondly, the spatial data are collected and mapped by using Geographical Information System (GIS) software. Then, the entropy weighting method (EWM) is used for determining the relative importance levels of criteria and fourthly, the multiple attribute utility theory (MAUT) approach is used for ranking the potential mass vaccination sites. Lastly, ranked alternative sites are analyzed using network analyst tool of GIS in terms of covered population. A case study is conducted in Gaziantep city which is the ninth most population and having above-average COVID-19 patients in Turkey. As a result, the fourth alternative (around the Şehitkamil Monument) is chosen as the best mass vaccination site for the city. It is believed that the outcomes of the paper could be used by city planners and decision-makers.