A CRITICAL SUMMARY OF ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS OF PNEUMOCOCCAL VACCINATION

Risk groups: This summary of economic evaluations of pneumococcal vacc ination reveals that in general, pneumococcal vaccination of the elder ly and of particular risk groups (the elderly with underlying illnesse s and HIV+ patients) is found to be relatively cost-effective and pote ntially cost-saving to the health care sector and to society General p opulation: Universal pneumococcal vaccination of the general populatio n on the other hand is a relatively cost-ineffective intervention in t he health care sector. Perspectives: Although the reviewed analyses ha ve become more refined over the years as more disease and prevention r elated data became available, there is still room for improvement in f uture economic evaluations on this subject.