Economics of employer-sponsored workplace vaccination to prevent pandemic and seasonal influenza

Employers may be loath to fund vaccination programs without understanding the economic consequences. We developed a decision analytic computational simulation model including dynamic transmission elements that estimated the cost–benefit of employer-sponsored workplace vaccination from the employer's perspective. Implementing such programs was relatively inexpensive (<$35/vaccinated employee) and, in many cases, cost saving across diverse occupational groups in all seasonal influenza scenarios. Such programs were cost-saving for a 20% serologic attack rate pandemic scenario (range: −$15 to −$995) per vaccinated employee) and a 30% serologic attack rate pandemic scenario (range: −$39 to −$1,494 per vaccinated employee) across all age and major occupational groups.