Four vaccine schemes could prevent 1,400 deaths – report

A new report on the benefit of adult vaccination has found that if four programmes were fully implemented, it would prevent 1,400 deaths, over 73,700 hospitalisations and 376,000 disease cases.

This would be achieved over the expected remaining life years of the vaccinated population, amounting to a period of around 19 years.

The “Value of Adult Vaccination in Ireland” report looked at national immunisation programmes for influenza, pneumococcal disease, the respiratory syncytial and herpes zoster viruses.

The report was produced by the Office for Health Economics in the UK, commissioned by pharmaceutical firm GSK and launched at Leinster House.

It estimates that there would be a return of up to €23 to society for every €1 spent by the Government on these vaccinations.

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The study considered adult vaccines and their programmes as recommended by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee.

The annual influenza vaccination is offered to people aged 65 years and other age groups.

The report looked at the benefit of offering it to people aged 50 years and older.

The one time pneumococcal vaccine is offered to people aged 65 and older alongside some other groups.

The report looked at the benefit of offering it for those aged 65 and over.

There is no one-time vaccination programme for herpes zoster, also known as shingles, and the report looked at introducing a programme for those aged 50 and older.

There is also currently no annual vaccination programme for the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and the report considered a programme for those aged 65 plus.

The Government recently approved an annual RSV vaccination programme to begin this September.

It will be aimed at around 28,000 infants and is expected to prevent over 450 hospitalisations and 48 ICU admissions a year.