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Non-Traditional Settings for Influenza Vaccination of Adults

Costs and Cost Effectiveness

  • Original Research Article
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Abstract

Objective

Influenza vaccination rates remain far below national goals in the US. Expanding influenza vaccination in non-traditional settings such as worksites and pharmacies may be a way to enhance vaccination coverage for adults, but scant data exist on the cost effectiveness of this strategy. The aims of this study were to (i) describe the costs of vaccination in non-traditional settings such as pharmacies and mass vaccination clinics; and (ii) evaluate the projected health benefits, costs and cost effectiveness of delivering influenza vaccination to adults of varying ages and risk groups in non-traditional settings compared with scheduled doctor’s office visits. All analyses are from the US societal perspective.

Methods

We evaluated the costs of influenza vaccination in non-traditional settings via detailed telephone interviews with representatives of organizations that conduct mass vaccination clinics and pharmacies that use pharmacists to deliver vaccinations. Next, we constructed a decision tree to compare the projected health benefits and costs of influenza vaccination delivered via non-traditional settings or during scheduled doctor’s office visits with no vaccination. The target population was stratified by age (18–49, 50–64 and ≥65 years) and risk status (high or low risk for influenza-related complications). Probabilities and costs (direct and opportunity) for uncomplicated influenza illness, outpatient visits, hospitalizations, deaths, vaccination and vaccine adverse events were derived from primary data and from published and unpublished sources.

Results

The mean cost (year 2004 values) of vaccination was lower in mass vaccination ($US17.04) and pharmacy ($US11.57) settings than in scheduled doctor’s office visits ($US28.67). Vaccination in non-traditional settings was projected to be cost saving for healthy adults aged ≥50 years, and for high-risk adults of all ages. For healthy adults aged 18–49 years, preventing an episode of influenza would cost $US90 if vaccination were delivered via the pharmacy setting, $US210 via the mass vaccination setting and $US870 via a scheduled doctor’s office visit. Results were sensitive to assumptions on the incidence of influenza illness, the costs of vaccination (including recipient time costs) and vaccine effectiveness.

Conclusion

Using non-traditional settings to deliver routine influenza vaccination to adults is likely to be cost saving for healthy adults aged 50–64 years and relatively cost effective for healthy adults aged 18–49 years when preferences for averted morbidity are included.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Dr Pascale Wortley for helpful comments throughout the course of this project, and Andra Barnette and Christina Kara for expert administrative assistance. We are especially grateful to our expert panel who assisted in the development of input assumptions: Drs Carolyn Bridges, Paul Glezen, Kathleen Neuzil and Gregory Poland.

Dr Nichol has served as a consultant, or on medical advisory boards, for MedImmune, GSK, Novartis and Sanofi Pasteur. Dr Nichol has also received research grants from Sanofi Pasteur and GSK.

Funding for this study was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Harvard/CDC Joint Initiative in Vaccine Economics. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, 133 Brookline Ave, 6th floor, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, USA

    Lisa A. Prosser, Megan A. O’Brien, Katherine H. Hohman & Tracy A. Lieu

  2. National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Noelle-Angelique M. Molinari & Mark L. Messonnier

  3. VA Medical Center and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Kristin L. Nichol

  4. Division of General Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Tracy A. Lieu

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  1. Lisa A. Prosser
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  2. Megan A. O’Brien
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Correspondence to Lisa A. Prosser.

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Prosser, L.A., O’Brien, M.A., Molinari, NA.M. et al. Non-Traditional Settings for Influenza Vaccination of Adults. Pharmacoeconomics 26, 163–178 (2008). https://doi.org/10.2165/00019053-200826020-00006

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