How to Calculate the ROI of Vaccination Programs
Although Covid vaccination programs have taken center stage in the past few years, there are many types of vaccination programs conducted by employers worldwide. However, each vaccine has its time and place. In any case today we’ll discuss how to calculate the ROI of vaccination programs in general.
Several vaccinations, such as for Covid and Influenza, have dominated employer vaccination programs lately but, depending on the country, other vaccines, such as Pneumococcal, Dengue, and HPV should be considered. But how do you measure the relative ROIs?
In my previous blogs and posts, I have discussed the six major types of costs (and thus ROI) impacted by prevention programs in general.
They include absenteeism, presenteeism, medical or health plan premiums, replacement (which includes the training and relocation costs of new employees who replace employees who leave an employer because of a condition), accidents, and disability.
Although not considered costs, there are also two other variables that I would like to add, that impact ROI: gender and the average age of the employee population.
Nevertheless, each prevention program impacts these costs differently, so it is quite difficult to perform these calculations by hand (our WELLCAST ROI™ was designed for this purpose).
But let´s use a Covid vaccination program as an example. Persons with Covid can result in either mild symptoms, hospitalization, and/or intensive care units (ICU). Each of these has a different impact on employer costs.
Complicating the ROI calculation are the Covid variants, the effectiveness rates of each vaccine in combating each variant, and the number of vaccines a person has taken.
Which type of costs should you consider to calculate the ROI of vaccination programs?
Let´s discuss each type of cost (note that the Vaccination Module of Wellcast ROI™ contains specific assumptions and measures the cost and ROI of vaccination programs for employers).
- Absenteeism. Even persons with mild symptoms stay home resulting in some absence. Persons who are in the hospital or ICU will be absent for a longer time period.
- Medical costs/health care premium. Hospital and ICU stays will impact medical costs and premiums.
- Presenteeism. Recent research has found that persons with more serious cases can suffer memory lapses (called Long Covid) impacting concentration which, in a sense, is a form of presenteeism.
- Disability. Some persons with Covid (especially Long Covid) will go on Disability.
- Replacement. Some persons with Covid may have to leave their employer, resulting in replacement costs of new employees.
- Accidents. Having Covid will, most likely, not result in accidents.
- Gender and Age: Prevalence rates of Covid and the effectiveness rates of vaccines vary by severity depending on gender and age.
When you calculate the ROI of a Covid vaccination program, you must also consider the cost of the vaccine plus administrative costs (the “Program Investment”), participation rates, and, most importantly, the effectiveness rates of the vaccine in reducing hospitalization and ICU. The same applies to calculating the ROI of vaccination programs other than Covid.
There are other vaccines that should come to the top of your prevention program list based on ROI, depending on other variables, such as gender (an example would be HPV, which can impact several conditions, including Uterine Cancer, so industries that are dominated by women, such as fashion, possibly banks and insurance companies, and textile companies should consider this vaccine).
In industries where professionals travel internationally, one should consider Yellow Fever vaccinations. Then there are countries with diseases such as Dengue and even a resurgence of Chicken Pox.
Modern tools can help you make the best possible decisions
The good news is that we have finally arrived at the point where the quantitative tools we use to make decisions regarding employee prevention programs are able to keep up with the vast statistics available regarding physical and behavioral conditions (and what we can do to prevent them), and they can make calculating the ROI of vaccination programs much easier.
Yes, it does take work to learn the new quantitative tools, but this is necessary to convert “benefits” (with vague financial value) into “investments”.
For more information regarding ROI and its preventive care calculation tools, please see our website at www.wellcastroi.com.
