The Societal Net Benefits of Vaccination Against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella

Abstract: Although most industrialised countries have achieved high levels of immunisation against MMR, vaccination rates in countries like the Netherlands, Italy, the US and Canada has declined during the 21th century. The aim of this thesis is to examine the potential net social benefits of vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella in Sweden by conducting a cost-benefit analysis were the costs of the current vaccination program is compared to the costs of measles in the absence of vaccination. A decision- tree based analysis was conducted and all costs were estimated on the Swedish birth cohort of 2010. The 2-dose MMR vaccination program was found to be cost-beneficial compared to a situation without vaccination, both when including the value of reduced mortality and when only looking at direct and indirect costs. Each vaccinated child results in savings of 4534 SEK.