Objective: To provide global policy-makers with decision-making information for developing strategies for immunization of infants with a birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine, this paper presents a retrospective cost analysis, conducted in Indonesia, of delivering this vaccine at birth using the Uniject prefill injection device.
Methods: Incremental costs or cost savings associated with changes in the hepatitis B immunization programme were calculated using sensitivity analysis to vary the estimates of vaccine wastage rates and prices for vaccines and injection devices, for the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine.
Findings: The introduction of hepatitis B vaccine prefilled in Uniject (HB-Uniject) single-dose injection devices for use by midwives for delivering the birth dose is cost-saving when the wastage rate for multidose vials is greater than 33% (Uniject is a trademark of BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA).
Conclusion: The introduction of HB-Uniject for birth-dose delivery is economically worthwhile and can increase coverage of the critical birth dose, improve resource utilization, reduce transmission of hepatitis B and promote injection safety.
Any organization or individual working in the field of immunization economics can submit findings, opportunities, calls to action, or other relevant work below to be shared with our community.