Handbook of Applied Health Economics in Vaccines: (Handbooks in Health Economic Evaluation)

Applying economics to vaccine delivery can save money and lives. With better analytical knowledge and better skills in decision-analysis, decision makers can improve vaccination program sustainability, efficiency, and financial predictability, leading to overall improvement in health system allocative efficiency. This handbook is a practical and accessible guide to the theory, methods, and research of health economics applied to immunization, and an essential and timely addition to the series of Handbooks in Health Economic Evaluation. By bringing these principles of vaccines and economics together, it is a valuable resource for public health workers, healthcare practitioners, educators, students, researchers, decision makers, and all those working in the immunization field. The handbook guides readers through this critical subject, whether they are already versed in economics or new to the subject. The handbook includes practical examples relevant to high-, middle-, and low-income settings. It offers background information on vaccines and the vaccine landscape, with relevant reviews of vaccine financing, vaccine adoption, and scaling up vaccine delivery. The handbook's main chapters are on principles, costing, economic evaluation, advanced methods, and financing and resource tracking. Summarizing both theory and applications, it is suitable for self-learning and for training and courses. Links to online exercises and resources will help readers learn and apply key insights.

Table of Contents:
1. Principles of vaccine economics 1.0: Chapter introduction 1.1: Introduction to global vaccine systems 1.2: Relevance of health economics to vaccines 1.3: Cost of finding and making vaccines: implications for immunization programs 1.4: Vaccination as investment in human capital 1.5: Economics of vaccine delivery 2. Estimating the cost of immunization services 2.0: Chapter introduction 2.1: Why costing studies are needed 2.2: Defining immunization costs 2.3: Designing a primary costing study or analysis 2.4: Data analysis 2.5: Costing new vaccine introduction 3. Economic evaluation of vaccines and vaccine programs 3.0: Chapter introduction 3.1: Overview of decision analysis and cost-effectiveness 3.2: Defining the scope and study design of cost-effectiveness analysis 3.3: Parameter estimation 3.4: Measuring and valuing health outcomes 3.5: Reporting and interpreting results of economic evaluation 3.6: Budget impact analysis and return on investment 3.7: Introduction to decision tree modeling 4. Advanced methods in economic evaluation 4.0: Chapter introduction 4.1: Introduction to Markov modeling 4.2: Static and dynamic modeling 4.3: Probabilistic sensitivity analysis and value of information analysis 4.4: Economic evaluation reference case with Markov model 5. Financing and resource tracking of vaccination Pprograms 5.0: Chapter introduction 5.1: Introduction to immunization financing and expenditure 5.2: Financing of immunization programs 5.3: Donor architecture for immunization financing Appendices 1: EXERCISE: A CASE-STUDY ON ESTIMATING THE TOTAL AND UNIT ROUTINE IMMUNIZATION COSTS FROM THE FACILITY TO THE NATIONAL LEVEL 2: EXERCISE: ESTIMATING NEW VACCINE INTRODUCTION COSTS 3: IMMUNIZATION ACTIVITIES AND LINE ITEM COSTS 4: MARKOV DECISION PROCESSES (MDPS) 5: DERIVATION OF THE ANNUAL EXPECTED COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INFECTED STATE 6: MAKING MODELS PROBABILISTIC AND ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF INFORMATION

About the Author :
David Bishai is a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the former President of the International Health Economics Association. From 2016 to 2020 he led partners from 6 countries in producing courses in vaccine economics. Logan Brenzel is a health economist with more than 35 years of health financing and development experience worldwide. Logan has a PhD in Health Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health; an MS in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health; and a BA in Human Biology and Humanities (Honors) from Stanford University. At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Logan manages a portfolio on immunization economics and financing, including COVID-19 vaccines, and supports health systems strengthening partnerships in the Africa region. Since 2003, Logan has provided policy advice to Gavi related to co-financing, eligibility, and transition. William Padula is a professor of pharmaceutical and health economics at University of Southern California, and fellow in the Leonard Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. His work explores the theoretical foundations of medical cost-effectiveness analysis. He teaches coursework in vaccine economics at universities throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2021, he published the first peer-reviewed U.S. model on the cost-effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination. He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research from University of Colorado; MS, Evaluative Clinical Science from Dartmouth College; MS, Analytics from University of Chicago; and BS, Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University.

Review :
This volume is the most relevant contemporary contribution to the field of vaccination and economics...This book is essential reading for policy makers and health policy analysts, and will no doubt serve as a valuable tool going forward.