Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the storage and logistics costs of diphtheria, tetanus, whole-cell pertussis [DTwP] / hepatitis B [HB]/ Haemophilus influenzae type b [Hib] plus inactivated polio vaccine [IPV], and oral polio vaccine [OPV] (current scenario) versus the introduction of a fully liquid hexavalent acellular vaccine diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis [DTaP]-IPV/HB/Hib (alternative scenario) in the National Immunization Program (NIP) in Brazil.

Methods: Through a micro-costing analysis, an Excel model was developed and captured all transportation costs involved in the 26 states plus federal district and distribution in the 5,510 Brazilian municipalities to the 39,767 vaccination rooms, road, air, and waterway routes were considered depending on the route and volumes transported. Direct costs were analyzed to measure the cost of transportation and storage in BRL in the year of 2019 considering the Brazilian public health perspective.

Results: The logistics costs considering the current scenario can be reduced by 44.6% when switching to the alternative one with a fully liquid acellular hexavalent vaccine, this cost could decrease from 27.5 Mi in the current scenario to 15.2 Mi in an alternative one. When considering storage costs, the costs would decrease from 410.7 Mi to 324 Mi BRL, representing a saving of 21%.

Conclusion: Switch to an acellular hexavalent vaccine in the NIP could reduce logistics and storage costs thanks to the combination of the vaccine (6 in 1). Moreover, optimized packaging size will improve cold chain management, and increase storage capacity allowing to free-up space for other critical vaccines in the calendar and ease management of pandemic situations with incorporation of emergency-use vaccines.