From population to public institutions: what needs to be changed to benefit from the full value of vaccination

Abstract

The poor perception of the benefits of vaccines, and their subsequent underuse, can result in substantial economic, societal, and political burden. Adequate support and communication from health authorities and governments is essential to promote the benefits of vaccination and reduce the risk of infectious diseases outbreaks. Cost-containment policies in the vaccine procurement processes could also be a threat to the long-term sustainability of the vaccine industry and manufacturing sites in Europe. Biologicals, such as vaccines, are highly technical and complex products to manufacture and only a few industries are engaged in this activity. Developing incentives to encourage vaccine manufacturers and identifying means of taking into consideration the specificities of vaccines in economic evaluations could allow the full value of vaccination to be appreciated. In conclusion, governments, international agencies, and other stakeholders have an important role to play to help society regain confidence in vaccination and ensure that the benefits of vaccination programmes are fully recognised and valued.

Strategies implemented to address vaccine hesitancy in France: A review article

“…12 VH can lead to difficulties in eradicating life-threatening infectious diseases, resulting in an increase of case fatality rates and critical complications that are associated with outbreaks and a growth in healthcare expenditures. 13 Addressing it is therefore important to continuously improve health-related quality of life of the general population.…”

Vaccination: the cornerstone of an efficient healthcare system

“…Ultimately, it is the global society and future generations that benefit when all countries make the effort to protect their populations from vaccine-preventable diseases. As such, vaccination programmes need adequate support and recognition of their value for an efficient and timely implementation and realisation of their full potential ( 23 ).…”

“…Compared with the original vaccines, these new vaccines are more costly, partly as a result of their more advanced and complex, patent-protected technologies, such as recombination techniques, carrier proteins, and adjuvants ( 22 ). In addition, recent analyses suggest that increased regulatory oversight is another factor driving up the price of new vaccines ( 22 , 23 ). However, economic analyses have reported that, despite their higher costs, new vaccines have been found to be cost-effective (according to commonly used thresholds in Europe ranging from €20,000 to €50,000/QALY), meaning that they provide good health value at a cost deemed reasonable, according to payers’ willingness to pay ( 24 ).…”

The societal role of lifelong vaccination

“…The dynamic nature of mixing and contact patterns within a given population is a strong argument in favour of vaccination to provide both aggregate direct, and subsequent indirect protection to reduce disease transmission within the society as a whole. Even if some of the broader benefits of indirect protection may be difficult to quantify in monetary terms and, thus, challenging to include in economic evaluations ( 7 ), public health workers across European countries need to recognise and evaluate these societal benefits to inform policy decisions concerning vaccination and competing alternatives.…”