Evaluación Económica de la Vacuna contra la Influenza aplicada al Personal de Salud que Atiende Pacientes Oncológicos Hospitalizados

Abstract

Performing a cost-effectiveness evaluation of influenza vaccine for health workers coming into close contact with oncological patients from the payer's point of view. As no evidence was found for influenza vaccine effectiveness in oncological patients, the cost-effectiveness of applying the vaccine to health workers coming into close contact with oncological patients was calculated by means of a decision tree; the payer's point of view was adopted. Costs were evaluated in monetary units and effectiveness was measured by the reduction in length of hospital stay for cancer patients as a result of lesser probability of catching the disease because of vaccinating the health workers. Vaccinating health workers coming into close contact with cancer patients led to savings of $2,978,000 (US$1,324) per day of stay saved. Vaccinating health workers coming into close contact with cancer patients proved cost-effective, returning health worker contagion probability higher than or equal to 0.02.