Vaccine Dispensing in a Section of the Private Healthcare Sector in South Africa (2017–2021)

Ilse Truter (), Johan Hugo, Hank Smith, Shailav Bansal and Alykhan Vira
Additional contact information
Ilse Truter: Drug Utilization Research Unit (DURU), Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, P.O. Box 77000, Gqeberha 6031, South Africa
Johan Hugo: Department of Statistics, Nelson Mandela University, P.O. Box 77000, Gqeberha 6031, South Africa
Hank Smith: Quantium Health South Africa, We Work Building, 173 Oxford Road, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Shailav Bansal: Quantium Health India, 1 Waverock Building, APIIC Nanakramguda, Serilingampally, Hyderabad 500032, Telangana, India
Alykhan Vira: Quantium Health South Africa, We Work Building, 173 Oxford Road, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has put a renewed focus on the value of vaccines in combatting potentially life-threatening diseases. The primary aim was to conduct a longitudinal study on the dispensing patterns of vaccines (from 2017 to 2021) in a section of the private healthcare sector in South Africa. A descriptive cross-sectional pharmacoepidemiological study on health insurance data covering 5 years was conducted. The study included all vaccines available on the South African market (childhood, adult, travel, and other vaccines). The study population consisted of 3.8 million individuals. The descriptive statistics were calculated. The vaccine-dispensing patterns were distinctly different in 2021 compared to the preceding four years. The COVID-19 vaccine was introduced in 2021 in South Africa. Although the total number of medical insurance scheme members stayed relatively constant, the number of vaccine claims increased approximately seven-fold in 2021 compared to the average for the preceding four years (2017 to 2020). The tetanus and pneumococcal vaccines were the most dispensed bacterial vaccines, whilst the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines were the most dispensed viral vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines accounted for 55.74% of all vaccines dispensed over the 5 years, and for 85.70% of the vaccines dispensed in 2021. An increase in the number of bacterial vaccines dispensed was observed towards the middle of 2020, which was attributed to the pneumococcal vaccine. Pneumococcal vaccines were administered during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent morbidity and mortality from co-/secondary infections and superinfections. Similar ongoing studies on vaccine-dispensing patterns in the post-COVID-19 era are necessary, especially since the outbreak of various vaccine-preventable diseases has recently been observed.

Keywords: coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); dispensing; pharmacoepidemiology; South Africa; vaccine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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