Cost-effectiveness of women's vaccination against HPV: Results for the Czech Republic

This paper evaluates the cost-effectiveness of vaccinating women against human papillomaviruses (HPV) in the Czech Republic, where HPV is the main cause of most cervical carcinomas. It examines the cost-effectiveness of the current reimbursement policy for HPV vaccination compared to the suggested change. Using a homogeneous multistate Markov model, we approximate transitions among states that represent the progression stages of cervical carcinoma, utilizing healthcare reimbursement data from public health insurance. The analysis reveals that increasing immunization coverage from 65.8% to 80% is cost-effective, given the threshold of 1.2 million CZK per quality-adjusted life year. Similarly, expanding the eligible age for vaccination reimbursement from 13 to include ages 13 through 15 years, while also increasing coverage, results in comparable cost-effectiveness. Despite certain limitations, our findings suggest that enhancing the immunization coverage of HPV vaccination for women is economically justified. Consequently, we advocate for the implementation of the proposed policy modifications.