Going Forward: Potential Impact of Protein-Based COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage on Population Outcomes and Costs in the United States

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 74
• Main Authors: Paret, Kyle, Beyhaghi, Hadi, Herring, William L, Mauskopf, Josephine, Shane, Lesley G, Rousculp, Matthew D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-01-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Availability; Coronaviruses; Cost analysis; Costs; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Disease control; economic analysis; Economic impact; Epidemiology; Evaluation; Fatalities; Health aspects; Hospitalization; Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi; Hälsovetenskap; Infektionsmedicin; Klinisk medicin; Markov chains; Medical care, Cost of; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Mortality; mRNA; mRNA vaccines; Pandemics; population health; Proteins; Public health; Reimbursement; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Sensitivity analysis; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Storage requirements; vaccination; Vaccines; Viral diseases; United States; United States > US; COVID-19; population health; economic analysis; vaccination
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines12010074

Policymakers in the United States (US) recommend coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination with a monovalent 2023-2024 vaccine formulation based on the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant. We estimated the potential US population-level health and economic impacts of increased COVID-19 vaccine coverage that might be expected with the availability of a protein-based vaccine with simpler storage requirements in addition to messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines. A Markov model was developed to estimate 1-year COVID-19-related costs, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths with and without the availability of a protein-based vaccine option. The model population was stratified by age and risk status. Model inputs were sourced from published literature or derived from publicly available data. Our model estimated that a five-percentage-point increase in coverage due to the availability of a protein-based vaccine option would prevent over 500,000 cases, 66,000 hospitalizations, and 3000 COVID-19-related deaths. These clinical outcomes translated to 42,000 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained and an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of USD 16,141/QALY from a third-party payer perspective. In sensitivity analyses, outcomes were most sensitive to COVID-19 incidence and severity across age groups. The availability of a protein-based vaccine option in the US could reduce hospitalizations and deaths and is predicted to be cost-effective.