Estimates of the Health and Economic Burden of Pneumococcal Infections Attributable to the 15-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Serotypes in the USA

Introduction Despite the availability of vaccines, pneumococcal disease (PD) is associated with high clinical and economic burden, mainly caused by non-vaccine serotypes and certain vaccine-type serotypes. V114 is a 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) that contains two epidemiologically important serotypes, 22F and 33F, in addition to the 13 serotypes in 13-valent PCV (PCV13). This study quantified the epidemiologic and economic burden of PD attributable to V114 serotypes among adults in the USA. Methods A Markov model was used to estimate the burden of V114 serotypes in a hypothetical, non-vaccinated cohort of US adults ≥ 19 years of age who were tracked from 2019 until death. The model calculated all the invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and non-bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (NBPP) cases, deaths, and costs. Economic burden was estimated from a healthcare payer perspective (2019 US dollars) and discounted at 3%. Results The model estimated 415,229 and 10.3 million lifetime cases of V114-type IPD and NBPP, respectively. Serotypes 22F and 33F caused approximately 33% of IPD cases and 20% of NBPP cases, while serotype 3 accounted for approximately 36% of IPD cases and 13% of NBPP cases. V114 serotypes caused 472,063 total lifetime deaths. Total discounted lifetime costs attributable to V114 serotypes were $44.8 billion US dollars. Conclusions In this hypothetical model of a non-vaccinated cohort of US adults, V114 serotypes were associated with a substantial health and economic burden, the majority of which was attributable to serotypes 3, 22F, and 33F. The addition of V114 to the national vaccination recommendations may help to reduce the epidemiologic and economic burden associated with PD in adults ≥ 19 years of age in the USA by providing increased coverage of these serotypes.