Health and economic benefits of bacterial vaccines in the prevention of otitis media

Evaluation of: O’Brien MA, Prosser LA, Paradise JL et al.: New vaccines against otitis media: projected benefits and cost-effectiveness. Pediatrics 123(6), 1452–1463 (2009). Vaccines have the potential to impact on otitis media, a leading cause of childhood morbidity. O ‘Brien et al. created a computerized model to project the potential health and economic benefits of bacterial vaccines targeted against Streptococcus pneumoniae, nontypeable Hemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis against otitis media. They concluded that reasonably priced bacterial vaccines could achieve cost-effectiveness and potentially prevent millions of episodes of acute otitis media annually.