Development of Guidelines for Conducting Economic Evaluations of Vaccines and Immunization Programs in Canada

The Public Health Agency of Canada (Agency) is the main Government of Canada Agency responsible for public health in Canada. The Agency’s primary goal is to strengthen Canada’s capacity to protect and improve the health of Canadians and to help reduce pressures on the health care system. The ability of the Agency to work with all levels of government and with non-governmental organizations to mitigate threats to public health is critical to fulfilling its vision for healthy Canadians and communities in a healthier world.

The Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases (CIRID) is part of the Agency’s Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch. CIRID’s mandate is to prevent, reduce or eliminate vaccine-preventable and respiratory infectious diseases, to reduce or eliminate the negative impact of emerging and re-emerging respiratory infections and maintain public and professional confidence in immunization programs in Canada.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is working to update the national immunization coverage goals and disease reduction targets, improve Canada's ability to identify under- and un-immunized Canadians, and develop a focused program to improve vaccine access and uptake. As part of this effort it will be important:

1. To consider economic evaluations of vaccines and immunization programs across Canada in terms of their cost effectiveness, including assessment of underlying assumptions, methods, interpretation of results, and applicability in the Canadian public health context; and
2. To ensure that there are approaches to address economic considerations in a systematic manner throughout the process of decision making and implementation of immunization programs.

The objective is to obtain the services of a Contractor to support the development of Guidelines for Conducting Economic Evaluations. The Guidelines will be used as guidance to conduct, review, consider and present existing economic evaluations of vaccines and immunization programs in Canada that will be used to inform recommendations of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) and other stakeholders.

CIRID provides national leadership and coordination in the development of knowledge and guidance to inform immunization programs and practices in Canada. CIRID is responsible for providing direct support for the NACI, a national advisory committee of experts in the fields of pediatrics, infectious diseases, immunology, medical microbiology, internal medicine, pharmacoeconomics and public health. CIRID works with the NACI to provide ongoing and timely medical, scientific, and public health advice. NACI makes recommendations for the use of vaccines currently or newly approved for use in humans in Canada, including the identification of groups at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases for whom vaccination should be targeted. NACI knowledge syntheses, analyses, and recommendations on vaccine use in Canada are included in published literature reviews, statements, and updates.

CIRID is currently leading the implementation of an expanded mandate for NACI to develop comprehensive immunization guidance for Provinces and Territories and other stakeholders to inform the delivery of vaccines and immunization programs in Canada as part of the recent review of the National Immunization Strategy (NIS). The expanded mandate of NACI will include program elements such as feasibility, ethics and economic evaluation.

In terms of the specific requirement for economic evaluation, CIRID requires a Contractor to develop Economic Guidelines that will be used as guidance to conduct, review and present new and existing Economic Evaluations of vaccines and immunization programs in Canada to support the activities and deliverables of NACI under their expanded mandate.