The economic value of a quadrivalent versus trivalent influenza vaccine

Abstract

The recently licensed quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine (QIV) may provide better protection than the traditional trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) as it includes one more influenza B strain. We developed a Monte Carlo simulation model to determine the economic value of a QIV compared to the TIV for 10 influenza seasons (1999-2009). The addition of the influenza B strain to convert the TIV into a QIV could result in substantial cost-savings to society (median of $3.1 billion) and third party payers (median of $292 million), even when the cost of QIV is significantly higher.