Abstract
We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of universal infant rotavirus (RV) vaccination compared to current standard of care of "no vaccination". Two RV vaccines are currently licensed in Ireland: Rotarix™ and RotaTeq™. A cohort model used in several European countries was adapted using Irish epidemiological, resource utilisation and cost data. The base case model considers the impact of Rotarix vaccination on health-related quality of life of children under five years old from a healthcare payer perspective. Other scenarios explored the use of RotaTeq, impact on one caregiver, on societal costs and on cases that do not seek medical attention. Cost was varied between the vaccine list price (€100/course) in the base case and an assumed tender price (€70/course). One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted. Implementing universal RV vaccination may prevent around 1970 GP visits, 3280 A&E attendances and 2490 hospitalisations. A vaccination programme was estimated to cost approximately €6.54 million per year but €4.65 million of this would be offset by reducing healthcare resource use. The baseline ICER was €112,048/QALY and €72,736/QALY from the healthcare payer and societal perspective, respectively, falling to €68,896 and €43,916/QALY, respectively, if the impact on one caregiver was considered. If the price fell to €70 per course, universal RV vaccination would be cost saving under all scenarios. Results were sensitive to vaccination costs, incidence of RV infection and direct medical costs. Universal RV vaccination would not be cost-effective under base case assumptions. However, it could be cost-effective at a lower vaccine price or from a wider societal perspective.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 7463-7473 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Vaccine |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 43 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 6 Oct 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This paper formed part of an independent report commissioned and funded by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) . The authors would like to thank the members of NIAC for their advice and contribution to the report. The views expressed are not necessarily those of NIAC. We also wish to thank the staff working at Health Atlas (Health Service Executive), the National Immunisation Office and the Health Protection Surveillance Centre for providing data inputs for this study.
Keywords
- Cost-effectiveness
- Rotavirus
- Vaccination