This article, published in BMC Public Health, describes a discrete event simulation of the epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease to quantify the potential impact of implementing routine vaccination of adolescents in the United States with a quadrivalent conjugate vaccine protecting against serogroups A, C, Y, and W-135. In the absence of appropriate real world data on outcomes associated with large-scale vaccination programs, decisions on optimal immunization strategies can be aided by discrete events simulations. The study concludes that, given the importance of herd immunity on outcomes associated with routine vaccination, published estimates of the economic efficiency of routine vaccination with a quadrivalent conjugate vaccine in the United States may have considerably underestimated the benefits associated with a policy of routine immunization of adolescents.

Author(s): Caro JJ, Möller J, Getsios D, et al.

Published: 2007

Resource types: Peer-reviewed journal

Diseases: Meningococcus

Topics: Disease burden and surveillance; Disease/vaccine specific information

Regions: North America and Europe