Kiavash Semnani

Dear Editor, We have read with great interest the comment by Zhang and Han1 on our published manuscript2. We thank the authors for their interest in our work and rigorous evaluation of the methodology. We realize that the noted concerns seem to be stemming from ambiguity in the reporting of the employed methodology for our analysis. We extend our sincere apologies for this matter, and would like to offer clarifications on the points raised.

1 INTRODUCTION COVID-19 has affected 767 million people, and claimed more than 6.9 million lives.1 It seems fitting that this pandemic garnered unprecedented attention and impacted health care expenditure worldwide,2 but as we transition away from the pandemic, It is imperative that appropriate care be given to other infectious diseases with broad effect.