OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of vaccination with Nuvaxovid®, COVID-19 vaccine in Japanese aged over 65 years old.

METHODS: Two analysis populations were defined, Japanese elderly population aged over 65 years old who are without SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations, and who completed primary immunizations with mRNA vaccine in Japan. For each, a Markov model, informed by a literature, was developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of vaccination with Nuvaxovid, against no vaccination with Nuvaxovid, from public healthcare payer’s perspective as base case analysis, and societal perspective as scenario analyses.

RESULTS: For elderly population aged over 65 years old without SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations, vaccination with Nuvaxovid (primary + booster) would reduce costs for JPY37,647 and prolong 0.01601QALYs. Therefore, vaccination with Nuvaxovid (primary + booster) was thought to be dominant over no-vaccination. For elderly population 65 years old and over who completed primary immunization with mRNA vaccine, introducing booster vaccination with Nuvaxovid would increase costs for JPY5,010 and prolong 0.00550QALYs, with the ICER of JPY910,566 per QALY gained.

CONCLUSIONS: This analysis demonstrates that vaccination with Nuvaxovid is cost-effective in Japanese aged over 65 years old.