Estimating the lifetime cost of vaccination in 23 European Countries: a modeling study

ABSTRACT

Background

All European countries have national immunization programs (NIPs) to protect gainst infectious diseases. We aimed to estimate the individual lifetime cost of vaccination in 23 European countries, assuming full compliance with NIP schedules.

Research design and methods

We used publicly available data to estimate the individual lifetime cost of vaccination with the vaccines that are currently recommended and funded in each country for healthy individuals and for individuals with underlying medical conditions. We included a scenario analysis for healthy individuals in which all currently recommended vaccines were universally funded, and compared the annual costs per person of vaccination to the annual per-capita costs of all-cause hospitalization and anti-infective medications.

Results

The individual lifetime cost of vaccination was €592–3,504 for healthy individuals (median: €1,663; 13–20 diseases), €744–9,081 for individuals with underlying conditions (median: €2,992; 13–21 diseases), and €1,225–4,832 (median: €2,565; 21–22 diseases) in the scenario analysis, with median values for vaccine acquisition of €1,203, €1,731, and €1,788, respectively.

Conclusions

Our estimates show that the maximum potential cost of vaccination requires a relatively low level of investment assuming full compliance. These data could be useful for policymakers in future financial planning and evaluation of NIPs.

KEYWORDS:

• Europe
• health expenditures
• lifetime individual cost of vaccination
• national immunization programs
• vaccination

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Cath Ennis, PhD in collaboration with ScribCo for medical writing assistance.

Declaration of interests

A Bento-Abreu, U Sabale, E Tsoumani, V Laigle, S Salomonsson and G Salomonsson are employees of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and may own stocks and/or stock options in Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA. O Ethgen and N Dauby provided analytical recommendations and critical review but were not compensated by MSD in that role. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or material discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have received an honorarium for their review work. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no other relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Ethical approval

This was a cost modeling study based on secondary analysis of publicly available primary data. This study was not considered human subjects research and was exempt from human subjects committee review and the need for informed consent.

Author contributions

All authors have (1) substantially contributed to the conception and design of the review article and interpreting the relevant literature, and (2) been involved in writing the review article or revised it for intellectual content.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2023.2157266

Additional information

Funding

The manuscript was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.