Provider recognition of H. influenzae type b as a cause of meningitis and other disease states is believed to be reasonably accurate, involving a moderate risk of a range of severe illnesses. Physician perception of the benefits of an adequately tested vaccine with the envisaged efficacy (see Chapter 5) and ability to induce early immunity would be favorable and any barriers (e.g., the number of doses) would be low because efficacy and safety testing could be conducted reasonably easily. Efficacy trials of the vaccine may be in a high risk population, and this may engender some reservations about relevance to the general population.

The scope and purpose of the calculations included below are described in Chapters 4 and 7. These calculations are based on certain simplifying procedures and assumptions that have been judged not to compromise their utility for the purposes of this comparative exercise. The total costs should be taken only as a rough approximation of the direct costs of this disease.