Overcoming economic barriers to the optimal use of vaccines.

Vaccines are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care, but economic factors may interfere with their optimal development and delivery in both industrialized and developing countries. For the United States, making the best use of available vaccines will require increasing the financing for vaccines via the public and private systems. For developing countries, innovative and promising approaches include pull mechanisms to establish predictable demand and push mechanisms such as targeted development programs. Partnerships between philanthropy and public resources have made progress in addressing gaps in vaccine financing and development for developing countries, but much remains to be done.