Health Technology Assessment and vaccinations in Italy

Health Technology Assessment e Vaccinazioni in Italia

Abstract

Vaccines are a basic investment in the long term, both for Countries and the whole world – where they are estimated to save 2.5 million lives among children each year. In this perspective vaccine research and development are intensifying; several novel vaccines are authorized, implying that health decision-makers more frequently face constraint problems in planning the available resource allocation. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is now acknowledged as a key tool for supporting decision-makers in making their choices. HTA is a multidisciplinary method, and the purpose of this article is to outline the issues to be taken into consideration when evaluating the introduction of a new vaccine: epidemiology of the illness, actors involved in its prevention, analysis of the available evidence, mathematical modeling and economic evaluations, ethical aspects, organizational impact on health care facilities and health professionals due to the vaccination campaigns.