Guidelines for estimating costs of introducing new vaccines into the national immunization system

Various new vaccines have entered the market during the last few years and more are expected to be developed in the future.1 Governments have to decide whether to include new vaccines in the routine immunization schedule, which is publicly funded in most countries. They may decide not to do so and to leave uptake to the private sector. The rationale for introducing a new vaccine into government-funded national immunization services should firstly be based on whether the disease in question is a public health problem and, if it is, whether immunization is the best way to control it. Secondly, the overall costs of introducing the vaccine and maintaining sufficient coverage should be assessed.

In these guidelines a stepped approach is outlined for estimating the incremental costs of introducing new vaccines into routine immunization services. The overall objective is to assist public health officials who are considering whether to introduce new vaccines to plan and budget for such introductions. The perspective is thus that of the health sector: the costs that fall on parents and others are not taken into account. The guidelines are targeted at immunization service managers, logisticians, policy-makers, researchers, international donors and health planners in developing countries. No prior experience or training in economics is necessary for using the guidelines.