Why carry out this study?

While the widespread use of higher-valent vaccines (PCV10 and PCV13) has successfully reduced pneumococcal disease, disease caused by serotypes not contained within the respective vaccines has still increased. Serotype replacement continues to be observed in all countries using PCVs, but evidence suggests higher replacement in countries using a lower-valent PCV, notably for serotypes 3 and 19A.

This is of particular importance as serotype 19A is known for its link with more complicated disease, multidrug resistance and the need for longer antimicrobial treatment.

In the absence of head-to-head evaluations, recent studies propose utilizing the observed disease trends in a country, to date, to predict future disease incidence under each PCV10/PCV13 vaccine pressure. With impending decisions around immunization policies, this evidence is timely to inform decision-makers.

Our objective was to estimate the clinical and economic benefit of replacing PCV10 with PCV13 in Colombia, Finland, and The Netherlands.

What was learned from the study?

A PCV13 program was dominant in Colombia and Finland and cost-effective in The Netherlands at 1× GDP per capita (€34,054/QALY).

In Colombia, Finland, and The Netherlands, countries with diverse epidemiologic and population distributions, switching to a higher-valent PCV program would significantly reduce the burden of IPD in all three countries in as few as 5 years.