Cost-effectiveness analysis of universal mass vaccination with Rotarix® in the Philippines

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Rotavirus is among the leading causes of severe gastroenteritis in children. Effective vaccines enable universal mass vaccination (UMV) which incurs high expenditure and therefore economic justification is needed.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of UMV with Rotarix ® versus no vaccination program in the Philippines.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>METHODS: </strong>A four-state decision tree model was used to estimate costs and health outcomes subject to annual discount rate of 3.5% Local and international published data and experts opinions were used for epidemiology, efficacy and resource use input parameters. Analyses were reported as estimated total costs, quality adjusted life years (QALYs) gained, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) in Philippines Peso (PHP) per QALY gained between rotavirus UMV and no vaccination.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>RESULTS: </strong>From a payer (societal) perspective, the ICER is PHP 12, 835/QALY (PHP12,059/QALY). Sensitivity analyses showed the ICERs below PHP 80,000/QALY, well below 1 time 2012 GDP per capita at PHP 103,366 with the main drivers of uncertainty being the probabilities of mild and moderate diarrhoea and vaccine costs</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Rotavirus UMV reduces both health and economic burden of rotavirus induced gastroenteritis. Based on the WHO's recommended thresholds, Rotarix® vaccination is projected to be very cost-effective in the Philippines in comparison with no vaccination.</p>

MMR trivalent vaccine based on safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity observed in 12-24 month-old healthy Filipino children: Evaluation of lot-to-lot consistency of a live-attenuated measles-mumps-rubella

In this double-blind, randomized single-dose study, 194 healthy Filipino children aged 12-24 months were randomized into three groups (1:1:1) to receive one of the three lots of live-attenuated measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to assess lot-to-lot consistency in safety and immunogenicity. Adverse events were recorded during 43-day post-vaccination follow-up period. Antibody levels were measured using ELISA pre-vaccination and on Day-60. No statistically significant differences were observed across groups for overall incidences of local and general symptoms (p>0.05) or immune response rates against the three antigens (p=0.835, 0.458 and 0.222 for anti-measles, anti-mumps and anti-rubella, respectively). The three lots demonstrated consistency in their reactogenicity and immunogenicity profile.