Analise economica das estrategias de vacinacao adotadas no Brasil em 1982 / Economic analysis of the vaccination strategies adopted by Brazil in 1982

RESUMO

This article presents an overview of a study carried out by the Public Health Special Service Foundation (Ministry of Health of Brazil) in association with the Pan Américan Health Organization; it compares the economic efficiency of the different vaccination strategies implemented by the National Immunization Program in Brazil in 1982. These strategies were classified in the following way a) routine vaccination services, offered routinely by federal, state and municipal health service networks; b) mass vaccination campaigns; and c) intensified routine services, where scheduled vaccination services were provided in small villages in the interior of the country. These strategies were assessed by taking into account, on one hand, the costs of supplying the vaccines (in order words, of providing the services) and the costs of obtaining the vaccines (that is, transportation, costs, etc., which affect the user) and, on the other hand, the number of vaccinations and children completely vaccinated by means of each strategy. For this analysis, the study sample was the health units of differnt public institutions in 16 municipalities in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. The results of the study show that, generally speaking, the mass campaign was the most efficient strategy, although in some municipalities the results of rutine services were almost as good