Department of Operational Sciences, Air Force Institute of Technology, 2950 Hobson Way, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA.
Expert Rev Vaccines. 2015 Apr;14(4):605-16. doi: 10.1586/14760584.2015.985662. Epub 2014 Dec 1.
Pediatric immunization programs in the USA are a successful and cost-effective public health endeavor, profoundly reducing mortalities caused by infectious diseases. Two important issues relate to the success of the immunization programs, the selection of cost-effective vaccines and the appropriate pricing of vaccines. The recommended childhood immunization schedule, published annually by the CDC, continues to expand with respect to the number of injections required and the number of vaccines available for selection. The advent of new vaccines to meet the growing requirements of the schedule results: in a large, combinatorial number of possible vaccine formularies. The expansion of the schedule and the increase in the number of available vaccines constitutes a challenge for state health departments, large city immunization programs, private practices and other vaccine purchasers, as a cost-effective vaccine formulary must be selected from an increasingly large set of possible vaccine combinations to satisfy the schedule. The pediatric vaccine industry consists of a relatively small number of pharmaceutical firms engaged in the research, development, manufacture and distribution of pediatric vaccines. The number of vaccine manufacturers has dramatically decreased in the past few decades for a myriad of reasons, most notably due to low profitability. The contraction of the industry negatively impacts the reliable provision of pediatric vaccines. The determination of appropriate vaccine prices is an important issue and influences a vaccine manufacturer's decision to remain in the market. Operations research is a discipline that applies advanced analytical methods to improve decision making; analytics is the application of operations research to a particular problem using pertinent data to provide a practical result. Analytics provides a mechanism to resolve the challenges facing stakeholders in the vaccine development and delivery system, in particular, the selection of cost-effective vaccines and the appropriate pricing of vaccines. A review of applicable analytics papers is provided.
美国的儿科免疫计划是一项成功且具有成本效益的公共卫生事业，极大地降低了传染病导致的死亡率。与免疫计划的成功相关的有两个重要问题，即选择具有成本效益的疫苗和疫苗的合理定价。疾病预防控制中心（CDC）每年公布的推荐儿童免疫计划时间表，在所需注射次数和可选择疫苗数量方面不断扩大。为满足该时间表不断增长的需求而推出的新疫苗带来了：大量可能的疫苗配方组合。计划的扩大和可获得疫苗数量的增加，给州卫生部门、大城市免疫计划、私人诊所和其他疫苗购买者带来了挑战，因为必须从不断增加的疫苗组合中选择一种具有成本效益的疫苗配方来满足计划要求。儿科疫苗行业由少数几家从事儿科疫苗研发、生产和分销的制药公司组成。由于多种原因，过去几十年疫苗制造商的数量急剧减少，最主要的原因是利润率低。该行业的收缩对儿科疫苗的可靠供应产生了负面影响。确定适当的疫苗价格是一个重要问题，会影响疫苗制造商是否继续留在市场的决定。运筹学是一门运用先进分析方法来改善决策的学科；分析是将运筹学应用于特定问题，使用相关数据提供实际结果。分析为解决疫苗开发和交付系统中利益相关者面临的挑战提供了一种机制，特别是选择具有成本效益的疫苗和疫苗的合理定价。本文提供了对适用分析论文的回顾。
