The cost-effectiveness of influenza vaccination in elderly Australians: an exploratory analysis of the vaccine efficacy required.

It is important to consider the value for money offered by existing elderly influenza vaccination programs, particularly as doubts persist about the magnitude of the effectiveness of such programs. An informative approach to explore the value of vaccination is to consider what vaccine efficacy would be required for a program to be considered cost-effective. To estimate the cost-effectiveness of the current elderly (65+ years) influenza vaccination program in Australia, we modelled how the hypothetical removal of vaccination would increase current disease burden estimates depending on alternative vaccine efficacy assumptions. The base-case results of the analysis found that the existing elderly vaccination program is likely to be cost-effective (under A$50,000 per quality-adjusted life year gained) if the vaccine efficacy is above ∼30%. This study offers reassurance that the influenza vaccination of elderly Australians is likely to offer value for money.