Cost of Influenza Hospitalization at a Tertiary Care Children's Hospital and its Impact on the Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Recommendation for Universal Influenza Immunization in Children Age 6 to 23 Months

Preventing the additional 4 hospitalizations in the otherwise low-risk children age 6 to 23 months for whom vaccine is currently recommended would have cost approximately $281,000 ($46/child) more than the hospital charges saved. When all children age 6 to 23 months are considered, influenza vaccination is less costly than other prophylactic measures. Addition of indirect costs, deaths, outpatient costs, and the cost of secondary cases would favor the cost:benefit ratio for influenza vaccination of all children age 6 to 23 months.