Summary
One of the goals of the Global Measles and Rubella Strategic Plan is the reduction in global measles mortality, with high measles vaccination coverage as one of its core components. Measles immunization requires a two-dose schedule.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), weak health infrastructure and lack of provision of the second dose of measles vaccine necessitates the use of supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) to administer the second dose.
Authors modeled three vaccination strategies using an age-structured SIR (Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered) model to simulate natural measles dynamics along with the effect of immunization. They compared the cost-effectiveness of two different strategies for the second dose of Measles Containing Vaccine (MCV) to one dose of MCV through routine immunization services over a 15-year time period for a hypothetical birth cohort of 3 million children.
Compared to strategy 1 (MCV1 only), strategy 2 (MCV2 by SIA) would prevent a total of 5,808,750 measles cases, 156,836 measles-related deaths and save U.S. $199 million. Compared to strategy 1, strategy 3 (MCV2 by RI) would prevent a total of 13,232,250 measles cases, 166,475 measles-related deaths and save U.S. $408 million.
Publication Authors:
- Reena H. Doshi
- Gerald F. Kominski, Ph.D.
- et al