[Analysis on the implementation of payment policies for four non-national immunization program vaccines in China]

This study systematically retrieved information on the payment policy of vaccination fees for pneumococcal vaccines, human papillomavirus vaccines, haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines and rotavirus vaccines using a Python-based crawler. The proportion of the population covered by policies among the total applicable population was estimated based on the medical insurance coverage ratio and population data in 2020. This study showed that the payment policies included two categories, government-funded free vaccination policies and medical insurance payment policies. Among the four non-national immunization program vaccines, the free vaccination policies only involved pneumococcal vaccines and human papillomavirus vaccines. Among them, the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, and the human papillomavirus vaccine were provided free of charge in 1, 10 and 15 provinces, respectively. For these policies, the corresponding covered population and the proportion among the total applicable population were children aged 6 months to 2 years old (2.5%), older people (1.2% to 21.5%) and middle school girls (1.1% to 12.2%). Medical insurance payment policies were implemented in 14 provinces, and nearly covered the four types of vaccines in the policy implementation areas, with the proportion of the covered population about 10.9% to 41.5% among the total applicable population.