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September 4, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Economic Analysis of Influenza Vaccination and Antiviral Treatment for Healthy Working Adults" Annals of Internal Medicine (www.annals.org) (08/20/02) Vol. 137, No. 4, P. 225; Lee, Patrick Y.; Matchar, David B.; Clements, Dennis A.

The influenza virus can be dealt with in a number of ways, from vaccination to antiviral treatments.  A survey of healthy adults between the ages of 18 years and 50 years was employed to determine which treatment method they chose to combat influenza and the result of their selection on a cost-effective basis for symptom relief and medication side effects.  Patients had a choice of vaccination options, antiviral treatment--including rimantadine, oseltamivir, or zanamivir--or no treatment at all. The most cost-effective selection was vaccination and use of rimantadine, resulting in a cost benefit of $30.97 more than nonvaccination and no use of antivirals.  In addition, the health benefits of most treatments far outweighed their costs for healthy adults.

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