Authors' objectives: To analyze the disease burden of various subgroups at high risk of pneumococcal infection and to assess the financial impact and cost-effectiveness of publicly funded pneumococcal vaccination strategies as a reference for the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in planning related vaccine policies.

Authors' results and conclusions: The introduction of publicly funded pneumococcal vaccination strategies for the hematologic malignancy population in different age groups has a lower ICER than no vaccination and is cost-effective. The overall vaccine administration cost is estimated to be around 57.36 million TWD (subsidizing the PCV13 scenario) or 77.7 million TWD (subsidizing the PCV13+PPV23 scenario). Therefore, if the budget allows, the introduction of publicly funded pneumococcal vaccination policies for high-risk populations is recommended as a priority.

Authors' recommendations: The introduction of publicly funded pneumococcal vaccination strategies for the hematologic malignancy population in different age groups has a lower ICER than no vaccination and is cost-effective. The overall vaccine administration cost is estimated to be around 57.36 million TWD (subsidizing the PCV13 scenario) or 77.7 million TWD (subsidizing the PCV13+PPV23 scenario). Therefore, if the budget allows, the introduction of publicly funded pneumococcal vaccination policies for high-risk populations is recommended as a priority.

Authors' methods: This study analyzes the disease burden of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and non-bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (NBPP) in various high-risk groups using the pneumococcal registration database and the National Health Insurance database of the Taiwan CDC. Financial impact and cost-effectiveness analyses are conducted from the healthcare payerˇ¦s perspective. The financial impact estimation mainly uses database and public data analysis for patient numbers and costs. The cost-effectiveness analysis constructs a Markov model for cost-utility analysis (CUA), with parameter estimates derived from a literature review, database analysis, and expert opinions, taking into account the basic characteristics of the target population, incidence and mortality rates of IPD/NBPP, pneumococcal disease-related medical utilization, vaccine efficacy, vaccination rates, and utility values.

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2023

URL for published report: https://www.cde.org.tw/HTA/achievements

URL for additional information: English (Abstract) Full HTA report in Chinese (Mandarin)

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Full HTA

Organisation Name: Center for Drug Evaluation

Contact Address: 3F.,No.465, Sec.6, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Taipei 11557, Taiwan. R.O.C.

Contact Name: Li Ying (Grace) Huang

Contact Email: lyhuang277@cde.org.tw