OBJECTIVES : Multivalent vaccines have brought public health and economic benefits by covering new antigens without increasing the number of injections. A fully liquid hexavalent vaccine, Hexaxim® (DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB) has been approved in Korea with proven immunogenicity and safety compared to pentavalent DTaP-IPV/Hib co-administered with standalone Hep B vaccine. This research aims to evaluate the socio-economic impact of introducing Hexaxim® in Korean national immunization program (NIP).

METHODS : A cost-minimization analysis was performed with a societal perspective over a 1-year time horizon. Vaccines acquisition, administration, immunization error related costs, parents’ transportation and time costs were considered in the model. The probabilities of immunization error were obtained from Time and Motion study, which showed that a fully liquid vaccine significantly reduced the preparation time and resulted in fewer immunization errors. Data on birth cohort, vaccine coverage rate, transportation cost and hourly gross wage were collected from official national sources. In order to obtain the number of hospital visits for inoculation, a nationwide online market research (N=400) was carried out in August 2020. Parents’ time costs were estimated by Opportunity Cost Methods, but different approaches also explored in the sensitivity analysis.

RESULTS : If Korea switches from the current pentavalent DTaP-IPV/Hib plus HepB to Hexaxim® for NIP, it will provide 33.2 billion KRW (=29 million USD) substantial cost-savings over the coming year. This was mainly attributable to parents’ time savings by reducing hospital visits. Reducing transportation, inoculation fee and immunization errors were also contributing factors. Sensitivity analyses indicated that results were robust to the different valuation approaches.

CONCLUSIONS : Our research demonstrates the socio-economic value of Hexaxim® beyond clinical evidences. Additional practical benefits of Hexaxim® such as reducing storage, distribution and preparation steps, which were not fully captured in this analysis, could be considered from HCP’s perspectives. These results would support evidence-based decision-making on the introduction of Hexaxim® in Korea NIP.