New Evidence Shows Investments in Vaccination Produce Even Greater Returns than Previously Thought

This article originally appeared on Gavi’s website. 

The Decade of Vaccine Economics (DoVE) Project, carried out by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) for nearly ten years, has computed the return-on-investment for vaccines preventing ten infectious diseases in 94 low- and middle-income countries, including 73 countries that have received support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

An economic lens demonstrates that immunization program costs are truly investments with tangible returns, just like any other type of investment.

Using a model that factors in treatment costs, lost wages, and productivity losses, we estimate that the costs averted via these immunization programs in 94 countries will amount to US$ 828.5 billion for the next decade. This estimated net benefit is about 20 times larger than the costs forecasted for vaccination programs over the next ten years, from 2021-30.

The ROI estimates are helpful for countries with competing priorities, since social return-on-investments help compare investments in health, such as vaccine programs, with other public social investments such as infrastructure, education, and social safety nets—all of which have different success metrics.