Peer-reviewed article
A review of the costs of delivering maternal immunisation during pregnancy
Simon R. Procter, Omar Mukhtar Salman, Clint J Pecenka, Bronner P. Gonçalves, Proma Paul et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This review examined the costs of delivering vaccines to pregnant women to protect mothers and infants against influenza and pertussis. The researchers searched published studies and found that vaccine delivery costs vary widely by country income level, ranging from less than $1 per dose in low-income countries to nearly $40 in high-income countries. The review identifies a significant gap in research about how to integrate maternal vaccination into existing antenatal care programs, particularly in lower-resource settings. Understanding these costs is important for countries deciding whether to introduce maternal immunisation into their health programs.
Key points
- Delivery costs per dose ranged from $0.55-$0.64 in low-income countries, $1.25-$6.55 in middle-income countries, and $5.76-$39.87 in high-income countries
- Only two of sixteen included studies used primary data to estimate vaccine delivery costs
- Most research on maternal immunisation costs comes from high-income countries
- Integration of maternal vaccine delivery into existing antenatal care programs needs further investigation
- WHO recommends routine maternal immunisation against influenza and pertussis to protect mother and child
Limitations
This is a systematic review of published literature rather than primary research, so the findings depend on what studies have been published and the quality of cost reporting in those studies. The review explicitly notes that evidence is sparse in low and middle-income countries where maternal immunisation programmes are most needed.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Routine maternal immunisation against influenza and pertussis are recommended by the WHO to protect mother and child, and new vaccines are under development. Introducing maternal vaccines into national programmes requires an understanding of vaccine delivery costs - particularly in low resource settings. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, Econlit, and Global Health for studies reporting costs of delivering vaccination during pregnancy but excluded studies that did not separate the vaccine purchase price. Extracted costs were inflated and converted to 2018 US dollars. RESULTS: Sixteen studies were included, of which two used primary data to estimate vaccine delivery costs. Costs per dose ranged from $0.55 to $0.64 in low-income countries, from $1.25 to $6.55 for middle-income countries, and from $5.76 to $39.87 in high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: More research is needed on the costs of delivering maternal immunisation during pregnancy, and of integrating vaccine delivery into existing programmes of antenatal care especially in low and middle-income countries.