Costs of Interventions to Increase Vaccination Coverage Among Children in the United States: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) has recommended several interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective at increasing vaccination coverage. OBJECTIVE: Conduct a systematic review to examine the costs of interventions designed to increase vaccination coverage among children and adolescents in the United States. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, EconLit, Embase, and Cochrane. STUDY ELIGIBILITY, PARTICIPANTS, AND INTERVENTIONS: Peer-reviewed articles from January 1, 2009 to August 31, 2019. APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS: Studies were identified with systematic searches of the literature, reviewed for inclusion criteria, abstracted for data on intervention, target population, costs, and risk of bias. Cost measures were reported as costs per child in the target population, costs per vaccinated child, incremental costs per vaccinated child, and costs per vaccine dose administered. Results were stratified by intervention type, vaccine, and age group. RESULTS: Thirty-seven studies were identified for full-text review. Across all interventions and age groups, the cost per child ranged from $0.10 to $537.38, and the incremental cost per vaccinated child ranged from $6.52 to $5,098.57. Provider assessment and feedback interventions had the lowest (median) cost per child ($0.17) and a healthcare system-based combined intervention with multiple components had the lowest (median) incremental cost per vaccinated child ($26.65). A community-based combined intervention with multiple components had the highest median cost per child ($537.38) and the highest median incremental cost per vaccinated child ($5,098.57). LIMITATIONS: A small number of included intervention types and inconsistent cost definition. CONCLUSIONS: There is substantial variability in the costs of CPSTF-recommended interventions.