Influenza vaccine consumption in 65 middle- and high-income countries

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a Global Action Plan (GAP) for influenza vaccines with various strategies to combat the spread of seasonal influenza (1). Objective: The study aims to characterize the global consumption trends of influenza vaccines from 2008 to 2018, to explore the difference in influenza vaccine consumption trends across countries at different income levels, and to evaluate the impact of the price of influenza vaccines on consumption in different countries. Method: We used IQVIA-MIDAS sales data to explore the global consumption of influenza vaccines throughout 65 middle and high-income countries from 2008 to 2018. Number of countries having adequate influenza vaccine consumption to cover their elderly, correlation between influenza vaccine consumption per capita and country income level per capita, association between influenza vaccine consumption per capita and the price of the influenza vaccine from 2008 to 2018 are determined. Results: We observed a 2.5-fold increase from 2008 to 2018 in the global consumption of influenza vaccine and such an increase was found in all WHO regions. The number of countries with adequate influenza vaccine consumption to cover their elderly population composition raised from 5 to 7 in these 11 years. The three countries with the highest influenza vaccine consumption per capita were Russian Federation (0.436 vaccines/person), the United States of America (USA) (0.342 vaccines/person), and Finland (0.341 vaccines/person), where both the USA and Russian Federation were the top two countries that recorded the greatest increase in vaccine consumption with 62-fold and 4-fold increase respectively from 2008 to 2018. We observed no significant association between country income level and influenza vaccine consumption. We also evaluated the role of pricing in the global consumption of influenza vaccine. There was a 1.5-fold increase in the price of the influenza vaccine from 2008 to 2018 among these 65 countries. An average of USD 8.17 was spent on consuming one influenza vaccine. However, no significant correlation between the price of the influenza vaccine and its consumption level was found. Conclusion: Influenza vaccine consumption increased in all WHO regions over the past 11 years, but remains insufficient to cover the elderly population in most countries. Our findings suggest that influenza vaccine consumption could further improve globally. Country income level, the price on influenza vaccine, and influenza vaccine consumption were found to be not inter-correlated. This provided insight that the price of the influenza vaccine could be more a supply-driven cost than a derived demand pricing, with no significant evidence showing a direct or inverse relationship. It is suggested that the global influenza vaccine consumption should be expedited with stronger collaboration, public education, and policy implementation across countries, so that the vaccination strategy will be truly effective in reducing influenza-related mortality and morbidity.