KEYWORDS:
vaccine procurement, operations research, vaccine selection algorithm, software, resource allocation, web, internet

BACKGROUND:
A vaccine formulary selection algorithm and website, using operations research tools, were developed to facilitate procurement of vaccines among increasing arrays of new monovalent and combination vaccines with overlapping, non-complementary antigens.

OBJECTIVE:
To allow health care industry professionals to determine best-value vaccine formularies to procure.

METHOD:
The algorithm fully satisfies the United States Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule by default, but can satisfy only portions of the schedule when necessary. Allocation of limited resources would require estimated size, vaccination history, and special conditions of population segments, for prioritization.

RESULT:
The website www.vaccineselection.com can be used to identify lowest-cost formularies for pediatric immunization. Users can revise default costs of vaccines, injections, vaccine preparation, and immunization visits, insert new vaccines, and run “what if” scenarios by adding/deleting particular vaccines for competition. With the enhancements under investigation, the website would accept information about the population to be immunized and facilitate allocation of limited resources.

CONCLUSION:
The web-based vaccine formulary selection algorithm provides a convenient tool for economic analysis by vaccine purchasers and immunization providers. Methods to update the software to facilitate solution of various scenarios faced by the vaccine procurement community are under investigation.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
See how typical internet users solve various vaccine procurement scenarios through the website.