Immunization Issues  Vaccine Economics  Updated: November 2,
2006  Health-care expenditures are major costs for individuals,
societies and governments. Policymakers need to decide how to
obtain the most effective health-care interventions and
technologies for the money spent. The recommendations that they
make will affect the public, individual patients, healthcare
providers, the vaccine manufacturers, and health insurers.  Of
course, each of these stake holder groups considers expenses and
outcomes of interventions very differently. Public health
officials often consider the expense and value of a healthcare
intervention—such as a new vaccine—in terms of its value to
society. That is, all costs and benefits, regardless as to who
pays the costs and who obtains the benefit.  There are three
main methods used to assess the economics of a health care
intervention designed to control and prevent a disease: cost-
benefit analysis (CBA), cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), and
cost-utility analysis (CUA).1 Public hea