H1N1 vaccine averted nearly 1 million cases in Ontario

A new study says Ontario’s H1N1 vaccination program averted nearly one million cases and as many as 50 deaths.

The study says Ontario could have seen an additional 420 hospitalizations, 28,000 visits to hospital emergency departments and 100,000 visits to doctors’ offices if it hadn’t offered the flu shot program

The study was done by Beate Sanders, a health economist with the Ontario Agency of Health Protection and Promotion and was published in the journal Vaccine.

Sanders says that while the $180-million vaccination program was expensive, it was cost-effective.

via H1N1 vaccine averted nearly 1 million cases: study – The Globe and Mail.