The full health, economic, and social benefits of prospective Strep A vaccination

Abstract

Recent research has documented a wide range of health, economic, and social benefits conferred by vaccination, beyond the direct reductions in morbidity, mortality, and future healthcare costs traditionally captured in economic evaluations. In this paper, we describe the societal benefits that would likely stem from widespread administration of safe and effective vaccines against Streptococcus pyogenes (Strep A), which was estimated to be the fifth-leading cause of infectious disease deaths globally prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We then estimate the global societal gains from prospective Strep A vaccination through a value-per-statistical-life approach. Estimated aggregate lifetime benefits for 30 global birth cohorts range from $1.7 to $5.1 trillion, depending on the age at which vaccination is administered and other factors. These results suggest that the benefits of Strep A vaccination would be large and justify substantial investment in the vaccines’ development, manufacture, and delivery.

A Practical Guide to Full Value of Vaccine Assessments

“…Sensitivity analyses were presented on some of the normative assumptions that may vary between different decision makers, such as the QALY loss assigned to a stillbirth [ 26 ]. For GAS vaccines, the global societal gains from prospective vaccines was estimated through a value-per-statistical-life approach [ 16 ]. In the case of TB vaccines, a wider range of economic analyses were performed, including analyses of the potential impact of novel vaccines on both economic growth in LMICs [ 17 ] and on health equity and financial protection in LMICs [ 27 ].…”

“…Since the publication of the GBS FVVA, substantial additional funding towards vaccine development has been granted. Extensive work towards an FVVA on other vaccines, including Group A Streptococcus (GAS) [ 16 ], tuberculosis (TB) [ 17 , 18 ] and influenza [ 19 ], is summarised online [ 20 ].…”

The Full Value of Vaccine Assessments Concept—Current Opportunities and Recommendations

“…Moreover, while the paper by Hutubessy et al [9] provides a conceptual framework for conducting FVVAs and the recent paper by Trotter et al provides advice on its practical use [10], there is not yet concrete guidance on the optimal FVVA methods to be used, which would standardize the application of these assessments, facilitate fair comparisons, and allow larger themes or common evidence gaps to be identified. Building on the success of these prior applications and the FVVA framework [9,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], we propose three recommendations to continue the development and standardization of FVVA methods, in order to maximize the usefulness of future FVVAs for country and global consumers.…”

“…Beyond the publication, there is also indication that maternal immunization is now also a priority for BMGF, who are engaged in supporting the development of further evidence to explore the capacity in low-resource settings for the potential future introduction of RSV and GBS. At the time of writing, the FVVA framework has been applied to a range of different diseases and vaccines, including Group B Streptococcus, tuberculosis, Group A Streptococcus, measles-rubella micro-array patches (MAPs), and Shigella [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] (Table 1). Many of these vaccines continue to advance in development, with donors such as Gavi and the Vaccine Alliance, discussing potential mechanisms to fund their introduction.…”

Quantitative Synthesis of Factors Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Vaccine Hesitancy in 185 Countries

“…As of 28 November 2023, WHO granted emergency use listing for 12 vaccines [ 19 ] that have been pre-qualified by WHO for massive administration around the world. Another benefit of vaccination is that it will enhance the health status of people, leading to a better life quality and contribute to economic development [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Hence, vaccination can contribute to 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the World Health Organization [ 23 ].…”