Financing strategies and cost estimates of influenza vaccination for the elderly in China: explore a multi-party co-payment mechanism

Abstract

The disease burden and economic burden of seasonal influenza is substantial in China, and the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought new challenges to the prevention and control of influenza. As a priority group of influenza vaccination, the elderly are at higher risk of influenza-associated severe symptoms and deaths, and they are more price-sensitive vaccine users with better cost-effectiveness of vaccination program. Therefore, a reasonable financing mechanism of influenza vaccination should be designed for the elderly to increase their vaccination rate. This study proposes three financing strategies of influenza vaccination for the elderly in China, trying to explore the distribution of vaccination costs among individuals, central government and local governments under different financing strategies, including the individual-central-local mechanism (strategy 1), the central-local mechanism (strategy 2), and the local payment mechanism (strategy 3). Strategy 1 is feasible and sustainable for most regions in the short term. Strategy 2 is conducive to further increasing the vaccine coverage rate of the elderly. Strategy 3 encourages local fiscal payments to help relieve the financial pressure of the central government. The results revealed a relatively heavy financial burden of influenza vaccination for the elderly, and it is recommended to promote the development of a multiparty co-payment mechanism gradually based on local conditions.