Cost effectiveness of vaccine is being assessed

EDITOR—Weijer states that the benefits of rotavirus vaccine may outweigh risks for children in developing countries.1 The issue of cost effectiveness is therefore central to the choice of whether developing countries should adopt a rotavirus vaccine. We are involved in a project funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development that will model the impact and incremental cost effectiveness of introducing a rotavirus vaccine into routine infant immunisation programmes in Bangladesh and Peru.

Frequently, poor families in developing countries must sell assets at a loss, or take out loans at high interest rates, to pay for care.2 Hence optimising the use of vaccines will increase the potential for economic development of the poorest groups by reducing their out of pocket costs of obtaining treatment, especially for more severe disease. Governments also stand to benefit through reducing the burden on frequently overstretched …