Vaccination is considered one of the main tools for preventing and controlling infectious diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 3.5 to 5 million deaths from diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, influenza or measles could be prevented each year through preventive treatment. In a society like the Basque Country, vaccination to avoid different infections is almost a cultural matter. Coronavirus coverage is high, with more than 90% coverage from the first two doses. But getting vaccinated isn’t free. Despite public health assumptions, it comes at a cost. That’s not a small number, but experts say it’s cheap compared to the diseases they prevent and the health costs they cause.
A recent study published in the “Spanish Journal of Public Health” showed that the cost of vaccination for a healthy person for a lifetime is 1,541 euros. This amount includes all the sera specified in the national health system’s universal vaccination plan, and there are not a few of these sera. If all specified doses of preparations (e.g. hexavalent, trivalent viruses, preparations developed for different meningococci, chickenpox, human papillomavirus (also in men) and other recently added preparations (e.g. shingles)) are completed , then 25 punctures are performed.
To all this vast arsenal of vaccines, the study added the influenza vaccine, which last season was included in the common vaccination program shared by all autonomous communities. Although in the case of this preparation it is expected to receive large amounts of serum. The authors estimate that the average person can receive more than 25 injections against this virus in their lifetime. The first is from six months to five years old, and the rest are from the age of 60. Of course, there’s also the impact of COVID-19, but the study didn’t quantify that.
This amount plus the cost of serum administration is €6 per vaccination. As a result, the lifetime cost of a complete vaccination is €1,541 for women and €1,498 for men. The difference was due to the two punctures they underwent during pregnancy, one for influenza and another for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
That €1,541 may seem large or small depending on comparison. If you consider the cost of hospitalization at the public Osakidza Hospital, it is very economical. A bed in a ward costs €1,278 for a day, which jumps to €1,933 if admitted to an intensive care unit. According to the rates book of the Basque Health Service, an emergency visit costs 257 euros and a face-to-face appointment with a family doctor costs 65 euros.
Number
The study estimates that each person will receive an additional 25 flu vaccines during their lifetime.
The study estimated that the average cost of a standard hospital admission for a patient with severe respiratory infection caused by influenza was €3,276. For meningitis, on the other hand, the number rises to 9,711 as it takes longer to overcome the disease. That’s why the seven researchers who signed off on the work concluded that “vaccination remains an inexpensive intervention that can provide multiple benefits in health” and has the potential to benefit from treating preventable diseases and their consequences. Save on health expenses. Although the cost of vaccinating a person for life has increased dramatically in recent years, they believe it is profitable.
Before the pandemic, the average price was 700 euros. It is now 125% higher. The study attributes this strong growth to several factors. The first and most important is the high cost of two of the last four vaccines included in the vaccination program: shingles and meningococcal type B, or bexsero. To this we have to add flu preparations, which although cheaper, researchers calculated that each person will receive flu preparations at least 25 times in their lifetime, including childhood flu preparations and annual flu preparations . 60 years old.
New ones are more expensive
Jaime Pérez, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology (AEV), explained that the significant increase in the cost of vaccinations during a person’s lifetime is due to the new preventive measures included in the common vaccination program of the autonomous communities. More faces. “A vaccine that’s been in the program for 20 or 30 years, like the polio vaccine, has a different price than one that’s just been added, like the shingles vaccine,” he noted. To prevent one type of meningitis, for example, families need to spend more than 300 euros on three doses of bexsero. The cost is now borne by public health departments. The AEV president argued that “investing in prevention is always profitable”.
Perez did not rule out that the cost per vaccination over a lifetime could increase further in the future, depending on what is added to the schedule. The €1,541 in the study does not include anti-bronchiolitis monoclonal antibodies given to newborns at the time or in the first few months of respiratory syncytial virus transmission in several communities, including the Basque Country. New doses of anti-coronavirus serum for people over 60 years old and a rotavirus serum for infants recommended in the fall are also ineffective.