Health, Economic Impact of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine

Over the first year of its use in the United States, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine prevented an estimated 8.7 million of symptomatic cases of COVID-19, averted thousands of hospitalizations and deaths, and saved around $30 billion in health care costs. Researchers published their findings in the Journal of Medical Economics.

“As only direct impacts of vaccination were considered [in the analysis], these estimates may be conservative,” wrote Manuela Di Fusco, MSc, Health Economics & Outcomes Research, Pfizer Inc, and coauthors.

The study used a mathematical model, real-world data, and trial data to estimate how many symptomatic COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths would have occurred in 2021 had the vaccine not been available. It further estimated costs to the health care system and the greater economy.

The model included information on the number of people ages 12 and older who were vaccinated, the efficacy of the vaccine in different age groups, and the probability of catching COVID-19, developing symptoms, and requiring hospital care. Long COVID was also considered, as well as working days likely to have been lost because of short-term illness and the economic cost of premature deaths.

In addition to preventing an estimated 8.7 million symptomatic COVID-19 illnesses in the United States in 2021, the vaccine prevented nearly 700,000 COVID-19–associated hospitalizations and more than 110,000 deaths, according to the study. The averted outcomes translated into estimated savings of $30.4 billion in direct health care costs and $43.7 billion in productivity loss.

“The analyses show that the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (BNT162b2) has had a profound public health impact in the US in 2021,” researchers wrote, “by preventing millions of symptomatic cases, thousands of hospitalizations, and deaths, which translated into significant cost-savings in the billions of US dollars, considering direct costs only (ie, payer perspective), as well as a societal perspective incorporative of productivity losses for the affected individuals."

References:

1. Di Fusco M, Marczell K, Deger KA, et al. Public health impact of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) in the first year of rollout in the United States. J Med Econ. 2022;25(1):605-617. doi:10.1080/13696998.2022.2071427
2. Nearly 700,000 US hospitalizations and 110,000 deaths prevented from the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, national study finds. News release. Taylor & Francis Group; May 16, 2022. Accessed May 31, 2022.