Determinants of influenza vaccine purchasing decision in the US: a conjoint analysis

We explore the determinants of influenza vaccine purchasing decision in the US via a nationwide survey of 251 medical office managers and physicians on preferences for seven vaccine presentation attributes: price, presence of thimerosal, contamination risk, storage space requirement, number of preparation steps, dosing errors and speed. The findings show that thimerosal, contamination risk, and dosing errors were the most important attributes. For pediatricians, thimerosal's absence was shown to be the most valuable attribute. Participants would be willing to spend the following additional amounts per dose of influenza vaccine to acquire products as follows: $5.06 for the absence of thimerosal, $5.23 for a lower contamination risk, $4.94 for lower chance of dosing errors. They would pay $1.08 more for influenza vaccines that were faster to administer, $1.27 more for vaccines that were easier to store, and $1.76 more for vaccines that had fewer steps to administer.