Cost-Effectiveness of Newly Recommended Pneumococcal Vaccination Strategies in Older Underserved Minority Adults in the USA

INTRODUCTION: US pneumococcal vaccination recommendations for adults aged 65 years or older recently changed, with options for either 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV20) or the combination of 15-valent conjugate vaccine (PCV15) followed by 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) 1 year later. Underserved minority adults are at higher risk for pneumococcal disease. METHODS: A Markov decision analysis model estimated the incremental cost-effectiveness of the newly adopted general population pneumococcal vaccination strategies in older underserved minority adults. The model examined hypothetical 65-year-old US Black cohorts (serving as a proxy for underserved minorities) and non-Black cohorts receiving PCV20 or PCV15/PPSV23, or no vaccination. Main outcome measures included incremental cost-effectiveness per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained and pneumococcal disease public health outcomes. RESULTS: Black cohorts had a greater risk of pneumococcal disease hospitalization compared to non-Black cohorts. In Black cohorts, total per person PCV20 strategy costs, compared to no vaccination, were $124 higher while gaining 0.00073 QALY, or $169,540/QALY gained. PCV15/PPSV23 cost $535,797/QALY compared to PCV20. In the non-Black cohort, PCV20 cost $210,529/QALY gained compared to no vaccination and PCV15/PPSV23 cost $728,423/QALY. Plausible variation of vaccine effectiveness minimally affected PCV20 strategy results and made PCV15/PPSV23 more unfavorable. In scenarios where the simpler one-vaccine PCV20 strategy increased absolute vaccine uptake by 10%, PCV20 cost-effectiveness changed minimally while PCV15/PPSV23 cost in excess of $6 million/QALY in the Black cohort. In probabilistic sensitivity analyses that varied all parameters simultaneously, PCV15/PPSV23 was unlikely to be favored at thresholds less than $500,000/QALY gained. CONCLUSION: General population recommendations for PCV20 use are substantially more economically reasonable in Black and non-Black older adult populations than PCV15/PPSV23. If using a single vaccine increases uptake, which is potentially more likely in the underserved, then PCV20 use becomes even more favorable. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40121-022-00669-x.