The greatest cost savings come from the scaling up of preventative immunization

Considering both the direct and indirect costs, researchers in the Netherlands estimated that the preventative immunization of Dutch healthcare workers (HCW) against pertussis (to reduce exposure and transmission contributing to outbreaks) results in a return on investment of 4 Euros to every 1 euro invested. This projection assumes an outbreak of pertussis once every 10 years.

Influenza outbreaks can have massive economic impacts

Researchers modeled the costs, using the UK’s 2004 economy, of potential pandemic flu in the UK. Costs of illness alone ranged between 0.5% and 1.0% of gross domestic product (£8.4bn to £16.8bn) for low fatality scenarios, 3.3% and 4.3% (£55.5bn to £72.3bn) for high fatality scenarios, and larger still for an extreme pandemic. Vaccination with a pre-pandemic vaccine could save 0.13% to 2.3% of gross domestic product (£2.2bn to £38.6bn); a single dose of a matched vaccine could save 0.3% to 4.3% (£5.0bn to £72.3bn), and two doses of a matched vaccine could limit the overall economic impact to about 1% of gross domestic product for all disease scenarios.

Measles infection suppresses the immune system for up to 3 years after infection

In a study of data from England & Wales, Denmark, and the US, it was shown that measles infection suppresses the immune system for up to 3 years after infection, increasing the risk of death due to other childhood infections during that time. This means that prevention of measles significantly impacts overall health during critical childhood years.

PCV vaccination at day-care centers reduced antibiotic use in children

Evaluation of the ability of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to reduce the occurrence of respiratory infections and the resultant antibiotic drug use was conducted among day care attendees in Israel. It was observed that children who had received the 9-valent conjugate vaccine showed a 17% overall reduction in antibiotic usage. In particular, a 10% reduction in days of antibiotic usage for upper respiratory tract infections, 47% fewer days of antibiotic usage for lower respiratory tract infections, and 20% fewer days of antibiotic usage for otitis media (ear infections) when compared to children who did not receive PCV.

>