Studies led by the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office (HE2RO), University of the Witwatersrand on the cost-effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination program in South Africa and the estimated costs of the program in the West Rand district of South Africa, 2021/2022.
The study on cost-effectiveness, published in Vaccine, modelled the costs and health outcomes of the COVID-19 vaccination program compared to a no vaccination program scenario. Researchers used a public payer’s perspective over two time-horizons – nine months (February to November 2021) and twenty-four months (February 2021 to January 2023), finding that the program represented good value for money in the first two years of rollout. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was estimated at US$1600 per disability adjusted life year (DALY) averted during the first study time horizon. The corresponding ICER for the second study period was estimated at US$1300 per DALY averted.
The study on the cost of delivering the COVID-19 vaccination program in the West Rand district was recently published in BMC Health Services Research. The research team estimated the costs incurred during the first year of roll out from February 2021 to January 2022 and one month prior for five delivery channels (hospitals, primary healthcare (PHC), fixed, temporary, and mobile outreach).
The total vaccine delivery costs were estimated at US$3.84 (financial) and US$10.38 (economic) per dose. Vaccine delivery cost per dose (financial/economic) was estimated at US$2.93/12.84 and US$2.45/5.99 in hospitals and PHCs, respectively, and at US$7.34/20.29, US$3.96/11.89 and US$24.81/28.76 in fixed, temporary and mobile outreach sites, respectively. Staff time was the biggest economic cost driver for vaccine delivery in PHCs and hospitals while per diems and staff time were the biggest economic cost drivers for vaccine delivery in the three outreach delivery channels.