Child Immunization: Costs and Gains

Childhood immunizations resulted in an estimated net savings of $69 billion in societal cost in the United States, according to a recent report from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, not all vaccinations may be worth their cost.

National Infant Immunization Week starts this weekend and will last until May 3. In that time, healthcare providers and immunization advocacy groups will be working to spread the word about the U.S. Childhood Immunization Program (CIP), which vaccinates children against a whole host of viral and bacterial infections.

Prior to the approaching week, the CDC is taking pains to remind people about how helpful childhood vaccinations, and vaccinations in general, can be. This, in-part is to help fight growing doubts in vaccinations even as outbreaks of mumps, measles, and whooping cough sweep across the 50 states.

In recent pro-vaccination material, the CDC is quick to point out that their most recent study found evidence indicating that the CIP prevented an estimated 42,000 early deaths and 20 million cases of disease back in 2009.

The study, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics, analyzed population-based vaccination coverage in 2009, comparing it to previous years. Considering average treatment and societal costs, investigators estimated that in absence of the CIP, additional infections would have directly cost patients and the healthcare system $13.5 billion, with an additional $68.8 billion in indirect societal costs.

The CDC investigators were able to conclude that not only do vaccinations protect Americans, they also save the country a significant amount of money.

However, making vaccinations available to all has always been a delicate balancing act for governments. Late last month, United Kingdom health officials finally changed their mind about a Meningitis B vaccine that they had been pending approval for the last several years. Why did it take so long? Officials had concluded that due to the low infection rate of Meningitis B in the U.K., mass producing a vaccination that would be widely available to all U.K. children was simply not cost-effective. However, after studies revealed that 25 percent of all infants infected with the virus experienced life-changing adverse effects, health officials quickly approved the shot.

It is no different in the United States. According to Forbes opinion writer Henry I. Miller, recent CDC advisory committee meetings focused on the pros and cons of halting production of a fourth dose of the penumococcus vaccine. It had been estimated that the halt would save the country $500 million a year. However, the halt may cost the country's children, cutting the effectiveness of the vaccine and resulting in an estimated two additional cases of the potentially deadly disease each year.

No official CDC decision has been made regarding the forth dose's fate.

The CDC study was published in Pediatrics on March 3.

The Forbes op-ed piece was published on April23.