HPV policy....cost effective???

When the long term and short term economic benefits of the implementation of Canada’s current position on HPV vaccination are examined, it quickly becomes clear that this is simply not cost effective policy. Economist and epidemiologist Hans Kreuger, employed by the BC Cancer Agency found that with the introduction of Gardasil in British Columbia in 2005, 54 million dollars were saved in cancer treatments over 26 years. However the cost of the vaccine is approximately 373.6 million, resulting in the government of Canada being no where close to breaking even.
Furthermore in order to vaccinate the 5 million women, who are recommended to receive the vaccination by the National Advisory Commission on Immunization, the government would have to commit 2 billion dollars for the vaccine alone. This does not include the cost of health care professionals, equipment, and education surrounding the vaccine. The federal government’s commitment of $300 million to the HPV vaccination program would therefore only cover 750 000 of the 5 million women recommended to be vaccinated. With the provincial governments of Canada already in need of increased healthcare funding from the federal government the provinces are unlikely to have access to the financial resources to cover the remaining women. From an economic perspective the policy of providing the HPV vaccine to all girls and women at risk for cervical cancer is clearly not financially feasible.

** all information recieved from the Canadian Women's Health Network http://www.rcsf.ca/PDF/CWHN_HPVjuly30.pdf