Globally, a variety of live-attenuated varicella vaccines are developed to give protection against the varicella zoster virus. Varicella vaccine is not included in the national immunization program in Mexico and is only advised for usage in high-risk categories. Researchers created a budget impact model to evaluate the impact of universal childhood varicella vaccination on Mexico’s national payer system. A scenario with no varicella vaccination was compared to scenarios with vaccination with a single dose at 13 months of age, in accordance with the present schedule of immunization with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. There were nine alternative vaccination scenarios envisioned, each with its own vaccine kind and coverage. Varicella cases and treatment costs were calculated for each scenario using a dynamic transmission model of varicella epidemiology calibrated to the Mexican population. Unit costs were derived from Mexico or from the literature.
The data showed that each of the three vaccination types raised vaccine acquisition and administration costs but resulted in total cost reductions in each of the program’s first ten years due to fewer cases and lower varicella treatment costs. The largest cost reductions were obtained by a highly effective vaccination with 95 percent coverage.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2019.1672491
