University of Twente Student Theses
Evaluating spatial accessibility to Covid-19 vaccination centers by bicycles in the Netherlands and optimizing centers opening and closing process
Al-Huraibi, A. (2022) Evaluating spatial accessibility to Covid-19 vaccination centers by bicycles in the Netherlands and optimizing centers opening and closing process.
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| Abstract: | COVID-19 virus has impacted people lives negatively in the recent years. The impact extended to all countries of the world, including the Netherlands. As a response to the virus, the Dutch municipal health service (GGD) started to vaccinate people against the disease in vaccination centers distributed in many locations throughout the country. The GGD vaccination strategy relied on fixed centers that use buildings for a long period of time. To reach vulnerable groups who were not vaccinated in that strategy, the GGD changed strategy by closing some of the fixed centers and relying more on mobile and pop-up centers. This research aims to evaluate the spatial accessibility to vaccination centers by bikes (regular bikes and electrical bikes) in both strategies and assess the effect of the strategy change on the vulnerable groups. It also aims to enhance accessibility by finding locations with high accessibility levels and prioritizing them in flexible vaccination plans. The thesis uses the cumulative opportunity measure to evaluate accessibility to vaccination centers in both strategies. Also, it develops a methodology using a location-allocation model to identify locations with high accessibility levels and prioritize them. The results indicate a decrease in accessibility levels to vaccination centers after changing the strategy, which negatively affected the vulnerable groups. It also shows a significant disparity in accessibility levels among the country regions. The results of the location-allocation model show the need to focus on the country southern regions mainly to improve accessibility in general. In addition, the results show a need to adopt local vaccination plans for each GGD region to provide high accessibility levels for as many people as possible. The thesis helps to understand the impact of vaccination center locations on their accessibility levels and its reflection on vulnerable groups. The method for prioritizing vaccination locations can also be used to build effective future vaccination plans. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation |
| Programme: | Spatial Engineering MSc (60962) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92851 |
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