COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign among the Health Workers of Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS: A Cost–Benefit Analysis

Abstract

Vaccinations generate health, economic and social benefits in both vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. The aim of this study was to conduct a cost–benefit analysis to estimate the costs and benefits associated with the COVID-19 vaccination campaign for health workers in Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS (FPG). The analysis included 5152 healthcare workers who voluntarily received the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, divided into physicians, nurses and other health workers. Data about vaccine cost, administration and materials were derived from administrative databases of the FPG from 28 December 2020 to 31 March 2021. The costs associated with the COVID-19 vaccination campaign amounted to EUR 2,221,768, while the benefits equaled EUR 10,345,847. The benefit-to-cost ratio resulted in EUR 4.66, while the societal return on investment showed a ratio of EUR 3.66. The COVID-19 vaccination campaign for health workers in FPG has high social returns and it strengthens the need to inform and update decision-making about the economic and social benefits associated with a vaccination campaign. Health economic evaluations on vaccines should always be considered by decision-makers when considering the inclusion of a new vaccine into the national program.

Cost‐effectiveness of COVID‐19 vaccination: A systematic review

“…The basic and vaccination characteristics of the included studies are presented in Table 1. Of the 28 included studies, 13 were from highincome countries (HICs): America (n = 7), [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Italy (n = 2), 16,17 Canada (n = 1), 18 Denmark (n = 1), 19 the United Kingdom (n = 1), 20 and Spain (n = 1). 21 The remaining studies were from less developed countries, specifically, China (n = 3), [22][23][24] Brazil (n = 2), 25,26 Turkey (n = 1), 27 Iran (n = 1), 28 Pakistan (n = 1), 29 Colombia (n = 1), 30 South Africa (n = 1), 31 Thailand (n = 1), 32 Ukraine (n = 1), 33 Poland (n = 1), 34 Kenya (n = 1), 35 and multiple countries/regions (n = 1).…”

“…36 For the publication years, 15 studies were published in 2021, [11][12][13][14][15][16][18][19][20]22,27,29,[31][32][33] and 13 were published in the first half of 2022. 9,10,17,21,[23][24][25][26]28,30,[34][35][36] Regarding the study perspective, 12 studies were from the health system perspective, 10,12,[16][17][18][19]23,25,26,30,31,33 10 were from the societal or payer perspective, 9,13,15,16,20,24,28,[34][35][36] ...…”

Risk of Infection and Duration of Protection after the Booster Dose of the Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine BNT162b2 among Healthcare Workers in a Large Teaching Hospital in Italy: Results of an Observational Study

“…A previous study of 6649 HCWs in our teaching hospital reported an efficacy of the primary schedule of BNT162b2 against SARS-CoV-2 infection of 91.5% [ 11 ]. Moreover, evidence in the scientific literature shows that providing the Pfizer–BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine to HCWs results in significant economic benefits [ 12 ].…”

Economic Evaluation of Covid-19 Vaccines: A Literature Review

“…However, the cost-effectiveness of vaccination strategies depends on the vaccine type (Orangi et al 2022;Wang et al 2022) and the booster policy (Mungmunpuntipantip and Wiwanitkit 2022). Given the vaccine's reduced potency and the virus strain variation (Nurchis et al 2022), the economic evaluation of the Covid-19 vaccine needs further analysis for a longer time (Fu et al 2022a).…”