Costs and benefits of routine varicella vaccination in German children

This study assessed the costs and benefits of introducing routine varicella vaccination to healthy children in Germany. Three vaccination strategies were compared with that of no prevention: vaccination of all 15-month-old children: vaccination of susceptible 12-year-olds (adolescent); and a combination of strategies (children including catch-up). From a purely economic viewpoint, the adeolescent strategy was optimal: It was the only one that resulted in net direct cost savings. However, since this strategy may be less acceptable from a medical or organizational point of view and because total net savings were the highest, a second option was to begin immunization starting with the 15-month-old children and to use the catch-up strategy for 11 years (total benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR), 4.72:1; cost-effectiveness ratio (CER), DM 6915 per life-year saved) and from year 12 on to use the first strategy (BCR, 4.60:1; CER, DM 19,735 per life-year saved).