OBJECTIVES: Vaccines are crucial for life. They can protect, prevent and cure a multitude of diseases both on local and global scales. Access to essential vaccines can indicate a government’s awareness of their citizens’ welfare. This study aim to compare the access to essential vaccines across countries focusing on the availability and affordability issues.

METHODS: Data on access to vaccines were collected from the government drug registration and world health organization (WHO) databases, websites and documents from June to December 2017. Availability were defined as vaccines registered with the country’s regulatory authority and affordability were evaluated using vaccines provided in the national immunization program (NIP). Countries were purposively chosen based on their gross national income (GNI) per capita includes high-income (HICs; United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and Japan), upper middle-income (UMICs; Thailand, Malaysia, China and South Africa) and lower middle-income countries; (LMICs; Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Philippines).

RESULTS: Number of vaccines available in each country were varied from 10 vaccines registered in Laos to 53 vaccines registered in China (an average of 30 vaccines registered in twelve countries studied). Hepatitis B, Influenza (seasonal), MMR and DTP were the most common vaccines available in all countries. An average of 12 vaccines were adopted in the NIP (range from 8-17 vaccines; lowest in Myanmar and highest in United Kingdom). HICs were found to have more vaccines provided in the NIP compare to UMICs and LMICs respectively. Even access to essential vaccines in LMICs is not an issue, many vaccines in LMICs’ NIP were mainly supported by international organizations such as GAVI.

CONCLUSIONS: We found variation in access to vaccine in both the availability of the vaccine and types and numbers of vaccines provided in the country’s NIP. Variation are higher when compare across countries with different income level.