Vaccination Against Cholera Is Cost Effective In Many Locations

Main Category: Immune System / Vaccines
Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 13 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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In regions of the world where cholera is common, new generation vaccines are more cost effective than previously thought, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health.

The study, co-authored by Marc Jeuland MSEE, Joseph Cook PhD, Christine Poulos PhD, John Clemens PhD, and Dale Whittington PhD, investigated the cost effectiveness of cholera vaccination in four locations where the disease is endemic.

The research incorporated new evidence from Bangladesh that showed that unvaccinated people were indirectly protected when others around them were vaccinated. Another factor that accounts for the better than expected cost effectiveness of oral cholera vaccines is that these vaccines can now be produced in developing countries at a fraction of the cost of similar vaccines produced in industrialized countries.

Cost-effectiveness analysis is frequently used by policy makers to rank the relative value of alternative health interventions. In the past, cholera vaccination has been considered not cost-effective compared to ex-post treatment of patients sick with the disease or prevention through investments in improved water and sanitation systems.

"Cost-effectiveness calculations do not usually take into account the indirect protection from vaccination," Jeuland said, "but such benefits can be quite high, depending on the characteristics of the disease being targeted. Greater effort needs to be devoted to understanding and including herd protection effects in cost-effectiveness analyses. Indirect effects may also be significant for other vaccines and health interventions."

The will be discussed in Value in Health, the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and outcomes Research.

Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) publishes papers, concepts, and ideas that advance the field of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research and help health care leaders to make decisions that are solidly evidence-based. The journal is published bi-monthly and has a regular readership of over 4,000 clinicians, decision-makers, and researchers worldwide.

ISPOR is a nonprofit, international organization that strives to translate pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research into practice to ensure that society allocates scarce health care resources wisely, fairly, and efficiently.

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ISPOR

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