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Unvaccinated adults cost US $7.1 billion
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Researchers calculated that unvaccinated adults cost the United States economy $7.1 billion in 2015, making up the bulk of an estimated $9 billion economic burden of adult vaccine-preventable diseases.
They calculated the costs in terms of economic losses from physician visits, hospitalizations and lost income and published the results in Health Affairs.
“Estimating and considering the economic burden of adult vaccine-preventable diseases is necessary for public health spending decisions and for increasing adult uptake of vaccines in the United States,” the researchers wrote. “This project was designed to estimate the economic burden that was attributable to vaccine-preventable diseases in adults ages 19 and older.”
They used two modelling methods to calculate the economic burden of 14 diseases associated with 10 vaccines that are recommended by the CDC for adults, including the hepatitis A and B virus, influenza, pneumococcal and MMR vaccines. The researchers calculated the estimates for adults aged 19 years and older for a single year.
One method estimated the direct costs of treatment and medication for patients, the cost of epidemiological investigations of measles outbreaks, and lost wages due to taking time off work to receive treatment. A supplemental method estimated the impact of health indicators on economic welfare.
In all, researchers estimated the annual economic burden of adult vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. to be $8.95 billion, the researchers calculated. That included $5.9 billion for inpatient and $2.4 billion for outpatient treatment costs, with the remainder representing productivity losses.
Influenza accounted for 65% of the overall burden, totaling $5.8 billion in costs and lost wages. The CDC estimated that just 42% of adults aged 18 years and older received a flu vaccine for the 2015-2016 influenza season.
“Estimating the economic burden of vaccine-preventable diseases … highlights the need for U.S. adults to better appreciate the value of vaccines to prevent economic burden,” the researchers concluded. “By highlighting the tremendous financial burden that unvaccinated individuals place on the economy and the health system, we hope that our estimates will spur creative policy solutions to reduce the negative externality or spillover effect, while preserving the autonomy of patients to make more informed choices.” – by Gerard Gallagher
Reference:
Ozawa S, et al. Health Aff. 2016;doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0462.
Disclosures: Please see the full study for a list of all researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.