OBJECTIVE: Recently, a vaccine with the capacity to protect against serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) disease received a positive opinion of the European Medicines Agency. Previously, such a vaccine was estimated to be cost-effective. However, since then, the MenB disease incidence has declined drastically in the Netherlands. Therefore, we re-assessed the potential incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of vaccinating infants in the Netherlands with a MenB vaccine. RESULTS: Routine infant vaccination (2, 3, 4+11 mo) could prevent 39 cases of MenB disease in a single birth cohort, corresponding to a total gain of 133 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). However, this strategy is unlikely to be cost-effective if the vaccine costs €40 per dose (€243,778 per QALY). At a disease incidence of 5.7 per 100,000 person-years or a vaccine price of €10 per dose including administration costs, the ICER becomes more acceptable and remains below a threshold of €50,000 per QALY. METHODS: A cohort of 185,000 Dutch newborns was followed in a Markov model to compare routine vaccination against MenB disease with no vaccination. The ICER was estimated for different disease incidences. The study was performed from a societal perspective. CONCLUSIONS: At the current low level of disease incidence, introduction of routine infant vaccination, following a 2, 3, 4+11 mo schedule, against MenB disease is unlikely cost-effective in the Netherlands. If the MenB disease incidence increases or the vaccine price is substantially lower than €40, routine infant vaccination has the potential to be cost-effective.
OBJECTIVE: Recently, a vaccine with the capacity to protect against serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) disease received a positive opinion of the European Medicines Agency. Previously, such a vaccine was estimated to be cost-effective. However, since then, the MenB disease incidence has declined drastically in the Netherlands. Therefore, we re-assessed the potential incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of vaccinating infants in the Netherlands with a MenB vaccine. RESULTS: Routine infant vaccination (2, 3, 4+11 mo) could prevent 39 cases of MenB disease in a single birth cohort, corresponding to a total gain of 133 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). However, this strategy is unlikely to be cost-effective if the vaccine costs €40 per dose (€243,778 per QALY). At a disease incidence of 5.7 per 100,000 person-years or a vaccine price of €10 per dose including administration costs, the ICER becomes more acceptable and remains below a threshold of €50,000 per QALY. METHODS: A cohort of 185,000 Dutch newborns was followed in a Markov model to compare routine vaccination against MenB disease with no vaccination. The ICER was estimated for different disease incidences. The study was performed from a societal perspective. CONCLUSIONS: At the current low level of disease incidence, introduction of routine infant vaccination, following a 2, 3, 4+11 mo schedule, against MenB disease is unlikely cost-effective in the Netherlands. If the MenB disease incidence increases or the vaccine price is substantially lower than €40, routine infant vaccination has the potential to be cost-effective.
Authors: R Welte; G van den Dobbelsteen; J M Bos; H de Melker; L van Alphen; L Spanjaard; H C Rümke; M J Postma Journal: Vaccine Date: 2004-12-09 Impact factor: 3.641
Authors: Caroline L Trotter; Nick J Andrews; Edward B Kaczmarski; Elizabeth Miller; Mary E Ramsay Journal: Lancet Date: 2004 Jul 24-30 Impact factor: 79.321
Authors: Giannina Izquierdo; Juan Pablo Torres; M Elena Santolaya; M Teresa Valenzuela; Jeannette Vega; May Chomali Journal: Hum Vaccin Immunother Date: 2015 Impact factor: 3.452