New Study Concludes that $1 Vaccination Investment in Developing Countries Can Ultimately Save $44
In a new study, supported in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, researchers studied the effects of investment in vaccination for common diseases such as measles, rubella, HPV, and rotavirus in 94 low to middle-income countries and then measured the economic returns therefrom. The results painted an extremely convincing picture of the efficacy and utility of widespread vaccination.
The initial evaluation compared the cost of vaccination with the possible losses associated with the contraction of a particular disease (ie treatment costs, transport costs, and loss of productivity) and found that $1 invested in vaccines helped to mitigate $16 in costs associated with a condition.
However, a second evaluation took into account the contributions that a vaccinated person can make to a local economy by virtue of being healthful and productive (as opposed to the first which simply measured the economic detriments of sickness), as well as the extra years of life a person gains from vaccination, and found that within a decade, a $1 investment in vaccination yielded $44 to the economy in which it was invested.
The results of the study were shown to be extra-influential in certain geographic areas. Most notably Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The study also suggested that the Middle East would see moderately lower but strong returns from such investment as well.
The study can be found here in its entirety
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/35/2/199.abstract
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