The financial impact of a state adopting a personal/philosophical belief exemption policy: Modeling the cost of pertussis disease in infants, children and adolescents

State school immunization exemption policies help reduce the risk of individual and community disease. Assessing the costs of vaccine preventable disease associated with a state adding a philosophical/personal belief school exemption policy is useful for making future policy decisions. Two formulas were developed to estimate the infant, child and adolescent hospitalization and non-medical costs of pertussis disease that are associated with adding a philosophical/personal belief school exemption policy. The parameter estimates were obtained from peer reviewed literature and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state of Iowa was used as an example in order to demonstrate how the formulas can be applied. The annual projected impact of pertussis disease in Iowa is $273,365 without a philosophical/personal belief exemption policy and an average of $410,047 (range of $281,566-$582,267) with adding a personal belief exemption policy. We project that adding a philosophical/personal belief exemption will cost 50% more dollars annually.