Vaccines are a powerful tool for saving lives, improving lifelong health, and promoting gender- and wealth-related equity. By preventing illnesses, deaths, and long-term disability, vaccines increase a person’s likelihood for better health outcomes and indiscriminately provide a fair chance to survive, thrive, and reach one’s full potential. In 2021, about 81% of infants worldwide received three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP3).
However, too many children—particularly those in hard-to-reach and conflict-affected settings— still miss out on life-saving vaccines. WHO and UNICEF data (2021) show that 25 million children have missed out on one or more doses of life-saving vaccines. Eighteen million of these children have never received a single dose of vaccines – these are the zero-dose children.
Extending vaccine coverage to hard-to reach populations is estimated to cost two to three times more per vaccine dose. In an increasingly resource-constrained world, leveraging health interventions that can co-deliver primary health care (PHC) services cost effectively and sustainably in these communities will be critical. Given the potentially greater cost of reaching hard-to-reach communities, it is all the more important to understand the true economic benefits of reaching missed communities with routine immunization.
The following brief discusses these relationships, highlights the economic considerations due to the inequities these communities often face, and provides recommendations for what is needed to better understand the costs and benefits associated with immunizing zero-dose children. Finally, recommendations are provided for mobilizing core resources to inform budgeting and planning to reach the most vulnerable and underserved communities.
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.