Key Evidence: A study looking at the impact of pneumococcal vaccine introduction and scaling up pneumonia treatment in Ethiopia found that 30-40% of all deaths averted by these interventions would be expected to occur in the poorest wealth quintile. Scaling up PCV13 to levels achieved with DTP3 in Ethiopia would be expected to avert nearly 3000 child deaths and 60,000 episodes of pneumococcal pneumonia annually, not including any potential herd benefit. A publicly financed program to scale up pneumococcal vaccines would cost about US$40 per year of healthy life gained.
Key Evidence: A study of the impact of measles vaccine in Bangladesh found that unvaccinated children in the poorest quintile were more than twice as likely to die as those from the least poor quintile. In addition, vaccination reduced socioeconomic status-related mortality differentials