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A new study uses a data-intelligent model to highlight the need to boost vaccination campaign budgets for disadvantaged, vulnerable populations to reach the maximum health benefit for everyone. When vaccine access is prioritized for the most disadvantaged communities, it improves both social utility and equity — even when such populations have strong vaccine hesitancy. An international research team co-led by Prof. Pan HUI from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and HKUST(Guangzhou), Prof. James EVANS from the University of Chicago, and Prof. Yong LI from Tsinghua University, reveals the key to breaking the dilemma of multiple ethical values from a data-intelligent epidemic model which can predict COVID-19 curves in US metro areas accurately.

As governments worldwide are planning to gradually ease lockdown or social distancing measures after months of life disruptions due to COVID-19, an interdisciplinary study co-convened by a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) computer scientist has recently found that universal face mask wearing is an urgent non-pharmaceutical intervention to suppress the spread or second waves of the disease before effective vaccines or treatments are available.