A benefit - cost analysis of two-dose measles immunization in Canada

In 1992, because of the limitations of the one-dose measles immunization program, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommended a two-dose measles immunization program to eliminate measles, More recently, NACI recommended also a special catch-up program to prevent predicted measles outbreaks and to achieve an earlier elimination of measles, The objective of this study was to complete a benefit-cost analysis of a two-dose immunization program with and without a mass catch-up compaign compared with the current one-dose program. The resulting benefit:cost ratios vary between 2.61:1 and 4.31:1 depending on the strategy used and the age of the children targeted. Given the parameters established for this analysis, the benefits of a second-dose vaccination program against measles far outweigh the costs of such a program under all scenarios, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.