Cost effectiveness of prevaccination screening for hepatitis B antibody

The cost effectiveness of screening for hepatitis B antibodies prior to instituting a vaccination program was investigated. Prevaccination screening tests for anti-HBs were performed on sera from 295 faculty and staff. Anti-HBs positive titers were found for 58 persons, and 43 (14.6 percent) of these had titers high enough to confer immunity. The cost of screening 295 persons was $1,666.64, or $5.65 per participant. By not vaccinating 43 persons, $4,498.23 was saved. A prevaccination screening would be most cost effective if only faculty with patient contact were screened.