Background and Goal

Vaccinations are one of the most effective preventative measures in medicine and play a central role in public health. As part of the current political process (Finanzausgleich 2025), 90 million euros will be made available annually until 2028 for recommended vaccinations, which are to be prioritized based on evidence. According to the Austrian Vaccination Plan (Impfplan) 2024/25, twelve vaccinations, outside of the free childhood vaccination program, are generally recommended, at least to specific target groups. These vaccinations were subjected to a comprehensive analysis by the TU Wien in collaboration with the Medical University of Vienna and the Gesundheit Österreich GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK) with the involvement of the National Vaccination Committee (NIG). Medical and technical, health economic and economic aspects were taken into account.

The results of this analysis, published here in their original format, are considered and evaluated by the National Vaccination Committee and then presented to the target management partners.

Methods

A mixed-method approach was chosen for the analysis, combining quantitative and qualitative modelling and simulation approaches. In a participatory process, PICO questions (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) were created by the NIG in cooperation with the project partners. These questions are evaluated using a simulation model that depicts the Austrian population in a steady state. This model integrates key parameters such as immunity build-up and decline, vaccination adherence and cost structures of the healthcare system. The underlying data comes from existing Austrian health databases, systematic literature research and qualitative interviews with experts from the healthcare sector. Where possible, real data from Austrian registers were used; in other cases, meta-analyses and bottom-up calculations were used. To evaluate the individual PICO questions, a total of 68 scenarios with different levels of vaccination readiness were modeled in detail and evaluated in relation to a comparator.

The evaluation is based on the medical effects of the intervention in comparison with the comparator, i.e. avoided illnesses, hospitalizations, deaths and sick days, as well as economic effects, i.e. reduction of costs due to extramural or intramural treatments, sick days and premature death. Extramural costs were estimated using standard treatment pathways and take into account both medication and treatment costs. To quantify intramural costs, hospital treatments in previous years and the associated costs (LKF points) were evaluated for selected ICD diagnoses. Standard health economic methods were used to calculate the costs of sick leave and premature death, which were parameterized for the Austrian population and the Austrian labor market. 

Report Structure

The report contains an executive summary with summarized and interpreted model/analysis results, a generally understandable description of the method, a description of the parameters and data sources used, a documentation of the limitations of the evaluation process, and all results generated by the simulation model as an automatically generated document chapter. In order to harmonize reproducibility and readability, technical details on basic assumptions, parameters, data and model are referenced in various appendices, which are also available here.