While the nation is preparing for the deployment of an updated COVVI-19 vaccine, a new study shows the economic benefits of large continuous vaccination in adults.
In fact, the country would ultimately save more money that it would spend on the vaccination of each person over 65 with a single dose of an updated mRNA vaccine against the coronavirus, the study concludes.
This is due to the power of the vaccine to prevent deaths, hospitalizations, short and long -term diseases and lost productivity such as the work days lost in this age group, according to researchers on the basis of a computer model. The model focused on people without immunodepromisses or drugs.
Meanwhile, in adults of average age aged 50 to 64, a large vaccination is a good economic investment, concludes the study. Even the vaccination of young healthy adults aged 18 to 49 would fall within limits accepted for profitability under certain conditions.
The new study, published in Jama Network Open, comes from a team led by a pair of researchers from the University of Michigan who have done numerous profitability studies of vaccines under contract with the centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. The study includes several CDC researchers as co-authors.
Lisa Prosser, PhD, is the main author of the new newspaper and co-lead with David Hutton. PHD of the wider research effort on the profitability of vaccines. She is a teacher of pediatrics at the UM Medical School and health and policy management at the UM School of Public Health, where Hutton is also a professor.
We show only one dose of the mRNA MRNA vaccine 2023-2024 COVI-19 avoided substantial diseases and deaths between age groups, and that this has led to economically attractive results for the two older age groups through wide variations in the parameters of the model. However, we also note that a second dose in unchamployed adults under the age of 64 was not economically favorable, although a second dose in adults over the age of 65 was. “”
Lisa Prosser, PHD, principal of the study and professor, University of Michigan
She notes that the second doses have been recommended for the elderly and those of all ages with certain conditions for the last two seasons of Vaccination COVVI-19.
The study has not included data from people under the age of 18, due to the lack of data.
In general, the study reveals that a large vaccination could prevent 391 hospitalizations and 43 severe COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people over 65 years old. For 18 to 49 year olds, these figures would be lower, with 39 hospitalizations and 1 deaths prevented per 100,000 vaccinated.
The number of cases of COVID-19, of all severity, which could be prevented by a large vaccination was almost the same for the three age groups, between 7,600 and 8,900 per 100,000 vaccinated adults.
Prosser notes that the decline in covid hospitalization rates could contribute to less favorable economic results in future analyzes.
Current situation of COVID-19
CDC data show that more than 47,000 Americans had covid-19 listed on their death certificates in 2024, two thirds of them having covid-19 listed as the underlying cause and 34% having it listed as a contributory cause. This is sharply decreasing compared to the first years of the pandemic, and decreasing considerably compared to 2023.
Although the vast majority of American adults have received at least one dose of a COVVI-19 vaccine since they became available at the beginning of 2021, the percentage receiving the updated vaccine in recent years has dropped considerably.
CDC data show that 28% of adults over 65 participating in traditional health insurance had received the 2024-2025 vaccine last February. In April 2025, 23% of adults of all ages told the surveyors that they had received the 2024-2025 vaccine.
Anterior search and underlying model
Earlier this year, Prosser and his colleagues published an article in the journal Vaccine evaluating the profitability of national investment in tests, purchase and delivery of the first vaccines. Overall, they show, this national vaccine strategy carried out in 2020 and 2021 more than paid after only one year.
Even without counting the loss of productivity, the national effort COVVI-19 vaccine saved money for most adult groups only by avoiding medical costs, concluded the study. Overall, among all adults over 40, the nation has saved more in the avoided medical costs it has spent on the vaccine effort.
The UM team has presented results on the profitability of several vaccines at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee for vaccination practices, which creates recommendations for using vaccines.
The model used in all the team studies includes everything, from the cost of the vaccine itself, to home or laboratory tests for the virus, to the probability of suffering from any level of COVD-19 disease or vaccination reaction, at the typical cost of receiving care at any level of disease, by the number of work days for different levels of Maladif. Researchers have included post-cozy conditions, also called long COVIR or PASC for the post-Aiguës sequelae of COVID-19.
The model also incorporates data on real rates and the severity of the disease and mortality rates for different age groups.
The model uses conservative estimates, so the size of the savings can actually be even greater than the study report, notes Prosser. For example, the model does not include the lost productivity of people who have taken a leave to take care of a member of the sick adult family, patient treatment costs or transport to go to medical care.
Prosser notes that the current recommendation of the CDC is for all more than 6 months to obtain at least one dose of the current COVID-19, although the CDC recommendation for children without immuno-comparison has changed this summer to include shared decision-making between the child’s parent / tutor and a health care professional.
For people aged 65 and over, or immunocompromised due to a state of health or treatment, the CDC recommends a second dose of the current vaccine six months after the first.
