Financing vaccinations - the South African experience.

South Africa provides a useful country case study for financing vaccinations. It has been an early adopter of new vaccinations and has financed these almost exclusively from domestic resources, largely through general taxation. National vaccination policy is determined by the Department of Health, based on advice from a national advisory group on immunisation. Standard health economic criteria of effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, affordability and burden of disease are used to assess whether new vaccinations should be introduced. Global guidelines and the advice of local and international experts are also helpful in making the determination to introduce new vaccines. In terms of recent decisions to introduce new vaccines against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus diarrhoea in children, the evidence has proved unequivocal. Universal rollout has been implemented even though this has led to a fivefold increase in national spending on vaccines. The total cost to government remains below 1-1.5% of public expenditures for health, which is viewed by the South African authorities as affordable and necessary given the number of lives saved and morbidity averted. To manage the rapid increase in domestic spending, efforts have been made to scale up coverage over several years, give greater attention to negotiating price reductions and, in some cases, obtain initial donations or frontloaded deliveries to facilitate earlier universal rollout. There has been strong support from a wide range of stakeholders for the early introduction of new generation vaccines.

Blecher MS ，Meheus F ，Kollipara A ，Hecht R ，Cameron NA ，Pillay Y ，Hanna L ... -  《-》

The decision making process on new vaccines introduction in South Africa.

South Africa has a functional decision making process for the introduction of new vaccines; with an established National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), referred to as National Advisory Group on Immunisation (NAGI). South Africa has played a leadership role in the African continent with introduction of new vaccines, which dates back to 1995 with the introduction of hepatitis B, followed by the Haemophilus influenzae type b in 1999 and recently the national roll out of the pneumococcal conjugate and rotavirus vaccines in 2009. NAGI has the responsibility to deliberate on key policy issues as part of the process for decision making on the introduction of new vaccines. In developing recommendations NAGI considers: disease burden, cost effectiveness, and the impact on the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI). Although guidance and recommendations from WHO are considered, the decision to introduce a new vaccine in South Africa is based on local data. NAGI recommendations are presented to the National Department of Health (NDOH). The NDOH pursues the matter further through the involvement of provinces. When an agreement has been reached to accept the NAGI recommendations, the NDOH seeks funding from the Ministry of Finance (MOF). Once funds are available, the new vaccines are implemented by the immunisation programme. Although there is an established functional system for decision making in South Africa, some areas need to be addressed. A system should be developed to allow the NDOH, NAGI and the MOF to engage in the deliberations on financial and economic impact of new vaccines. It is further recommended that a committee be established that will assess the programmatic issues to weigh the potential benefits of a new vaccine. Furthermore, political commitment should support the immunisation programme and strengthen it so that it can make an impact in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal no. 4 of reducing child mortality.

Ngcobo NJ ，Cameron NA 《-》

Projected health benefits and costs of pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccination in Uganda.

We determined impact and cost-effectiveness of pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccination programs among children<5 years of age in Uganda from the public health system perspective. Disease-specific models compared the disease burden and cost with and without a vaccination program. If introduced, pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccine programs will save 10,796 and 5265 lives, respectively, prevent 94,071 Streptococcus pneumoniae and 94,729 rotavirus cases in children<5 years, and save 3886 and 996 million Ugandan shillings ($2.3 and $0.6 million US dollars), respectively, in direct medical costs annually. At the GAVI price ($0.15/dose), pneumococcal vaccine will be cost-saving and rotavirus vaccine highly cost-effective.

Tate JE ，Kisakye A ，Mugyenyi P ，Kizza D ，Odiit A ，Braka F ... -  《-》

Cost-effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination as part of the national immunization program for Thai children.

Chotivitayatarakorn P ，Chotivitayatarakorn P ，Poovorawan Y 《-》

Health economics of rotavirus immunization in Vietnam: potentials for favorable cost-effectiveness in developing countries.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea worldwide. Vietnam is situated in the region of high rotavirus infection incidence and eligible for financial support to introduce rotavirus vaccines into the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) from the GAVI. This study was designed to assess the cost-effectiveness of rotavirus immunization in Vietnam, explicitly the use of Rotateq(®) and to assess the affordability of implementing universal rotavirus immunization based on GAVI-subsidized vaccine price in the context of Vietnamese healthcare system for the next 5 years. An age-structured cohort model was developed for the 2009 birth cohort in Vietnam. Two strategies were compared: one being the current situation without vaccination, and the other being mass universal rotavirus vaccination. The time horizon of the model was 5 years with time cycles of 1 month for children less than 1 year of age and annual analysis thereafter. Outcomes included mild, moderate, severe cases and death. Multiple outcomes per rotavirus infection are possible in the model. Monte Carlo simulations were used to examine the acceptability and affordability of the rotavirus vaccination. All costs were expressed in 2009 US$. Rotavirus vaccination would not completely protect young children against rotavirus infection due to partial nature of vaccine immunity, however, would effectively reduce severe cases of rotavirus by roughly 55% during the first 5 years of life. Under GAVI-subsidized vaccine price (US$ 0.3/dose), the vaccine cost would amount to US$ 5.5 million per annum for 3-dose of the Rotateq(®) vaccine. In the base-case, the incremental cost per quality-adjusted-life-year (QALY) was US$ 665 from the health system perspective, much lower than per-capita GDP of ∼US$ 1150 in 2009. Affordability results showed that at the GAVI-subsidized vaccine price, rotavirus vaccination could be affordable for Vietnamese health system. Rotavirus vaccination in Vietnam would be a cost-effective health intervention. Vaccination only becomes affordable if the country receives GAVI's financial support due to the current high market vaccine price. Given the high mortality rate of under-five-year children, the results showed that rotavirus immunization is the "best hope" for prevention of rotavirus-related diarrhoeal disease in Vietnam. In the next five years, Vietnam is definitely in debt to financial support from international organizations in implementing rotavirus immunization. It is recommended that new rotavirus vaccine candidates be developed at cheaper price to speed up the introduction of rotavirus immunization in the developing world in general.

Tu HA ，Rozenbaum MH ，Coyte PC ，Li SC ，Woerdenbag HJ ，Postma MJ ... -  《-》