The cost-effectiveness of vaccinating pregnant women against seasonal influenza in England and Wales

We assessed the cost-effectiveness of vaccinating pregnant women against seasonal influenza in England and Wales, taking into account the timing of vaccination relative to both the influenza season and trimester of pregnancy. Women were assumed to be vaccinated in their second or third trimester. Vaccination between September and December was found to have an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £23,000 per quality adjusted life year (QALY) (95% CI £10,000-£140,000) if it is assumed that infants are partially protected through their mothers, and of £28,000 per QALY gained (95% CI £13,000-£200,000) if infants are not protected. If some vaccine protection lasts for a second season, then the ratio is only £15,000 per QALY gained (95% CI £6,000-£93,000). Most of the benefit of vaccination is in preventing symptomatic episodes, regardless of health care resource use. Extending vaccination beyond December is unlikely to be cost-effective unless there is good protection into a second influenza season. Key sources of uncertainty are the cost of vaccine delivery and the quality of life detriment due to a clinically apparent episode of confirmed influenza. The cost of vaccine purchase itself is relatively low.