Introducing a typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into routine child vaccine schedules and conducting a catch-up campaign to vaccinate all children up to age 15 is a cost-effective solution for many low- to middle-income countries severely burdened by typhoid, a new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health finds.
The study is the first comprehensive analysis of the cost-effectiveness of different typhoid vaccination strategies for 54 countries hit hardest by typhoid — primarily located in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — and where funding from Gavi, an international organization dedicated to vaccine introduction, is available.
The study —published Thursday in Lancet Infectious Diseases — analyzed disease transmission rates, hospitalizations, mortality rates, vaccine-related costs and the financial resources of each country. Extensive computer modeling and analysis were applied to evaluate four strategies: no vaccination, routine immunization at nine months, or routine immunization at nine months with catch-up campaigns to either age 5 or age 15.