ECONOMIC-ASPECTS OF A GENERAL VACCINATION AGAINST INVASIVE DISEASE CAUSED BY HAEMOPHILUS-INFLUENZAE TYPE-B (HIB) VIA THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CHILDRENS-HOSPITAL LA FE, VALENCIA, SPAIN

With the aim of studying whether a general vaccination against invasiv e disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is economicall y profitable bearing in mind the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, i ts price and the global cost that this disease has in our area, a revi ew is conducted of patients admitted due to invasive disease caused by Hib in the Children's Hospital La Fe, Valencia, born between 1984 and 1993. They total 100, 63 who have meningitis. In the 81 cases (56 wit h meningitis) born between 1984 and 1990 (years that can be regarded a s ''closed'' since all the patients were younger than 5 years of age) the total cost has been calculated for hospitalization, care during th e acute phase, care for the sequelae (6 severe and 7 mild) and death ( 5 cases). The mean annual cost of care can be calculated at 62 million pesetas, without making an economic valuation of the loss of life, an d at 205 million pesetas taking this factor into account. The annual c ost of vaccinating the 7000 babies under one year of age and falling w ithin the Hospital's catchment area, on the basis of a vaccination pat tern of three closes (at 2, 4 and 6 months) or four closes (at 2, 4, 6 and 15 months) would amount to 63 or 84 million pesetas, normal price to public (not covered by National Health Service), and 40 or 51 mill ion pesetas if acquired by National Health Service. As a conclusion we can state that, even from the economic point of view, without quantif ying the cost of the loss of life, a public general anti-Hib vaccinati on would be profitable in our area since it would mean an administrati on cost lower than that of the cave required by patients. This is with out taking into account the fact that emotional family and social seri ous disturbances would also be avoided due to hospitalization, sequela e and deaths caused by a disease which is today perfectly preventable.