Public and private immunisation services: a comparison of costs

Cost inputs to infant immunisation programs were identified for both the public and private health systems, based on data from the fourteen local government areas which made up the Western Metropolitan Health Region in Sydney, New South Wales. The public health approach is shown to be significantly less costly than private immunisation services. The costs of the latter, however, are largely hidden within the national health bill, while the costs of the former are spread across all three levels of government. Total public sector costs of immunisation could be decreased, but only with increased input at the local government level. Thus, under present distribution and funding arrangements in NSW, covert fostering of the less cost efficient private immunisation services is likely to continue.