Consumer willingness to pay for a hypothetical chikungunya vaccine in Brazil and the implications

ABSTRACT

Background: Chikungunya fever is an important infectious disease transmitted by the bite of the mosquitoes. Information about consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical vaccine can help with future discussions about its possible price. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted among residents of Minas Gerais, Brazil, regarding their WTP for a hypothetical chikungunya vaccine defined by the authors as having a mean effective protection of 80%. Results: We interviewed 496 individuals. Among these, 23 were excluded from the analysis. Most of the respondents were female (57.3%), had completed at least high school (90.7%), were employed (87.7%) and had private health insurance (62.6%). The median value of the WTP was US$ 31.17 (120.00 BRL) for a unique dose vaccine. The WTP showed a statistical significant correlation with monthly family income and access to private health insurance. Conclusion: This study can contribute to decision-making about potential prices for a chikungunya vaccine once it becomes available in Brazil. We demonstrated the relevance of the anchoring effect as a possible influence applied to the maximum value of the WTP associated with respondents’ preference for a new vaccine. Finally, we encourage the development of a chikungunya virus vaccine to benefit the Brazilian population.

KEYWORDS:

• Willingness to pay
• chikungunya
• vaccine
• consumers
• Brazil

Article Highlights

• In the last two years, there were 271,075 cases of chikungunya in Brazil. Since 2014, there have been 2,673,671 cases of chikungunya in the Americas.

• The infection by CHIKV usually causes fever (temperature > 38.9°C), headache, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, myalgia, symmetric arthralgia and joint pain.

• The disease may occur in two phases: acute and chronic. The chronic phase can last for several months and its most common symptom is persistent joint pain.

• Although currently there is not a treatment specific for chikungunya, it is possible that in a few years vaccines against CHIKV will become available.

• This study estimated the willingness to pay (WTP) of Brazilian consumers for a hypothetical Zika vaccine through an analysis of contingent valuation.

• Fifty per cent of the interviewees, inhabitants of Belo Horizonte and its metropolitan area were willing to pay US$ 31.17 (120.00BRL) for the hypothetical vaccine against chikungunya, the same value found for a dengue vaccine in other previous studies [12].

• We expect this study will provide data for any future discussions surrounding the introduction of a CHIKV vaccine into the Brazilian’s Public Health System (SUS), as well as its pricing in both the private and public markets.

Author contributions

TS, IG and ER undertook the study and the analysis. TS, IG, ER, BR and CR subsequently revised the draft and produced the final and revised manuscripts. All authors approved the final and revised manuscripts. All authors also agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Declaration of interest

IP Godói received financial support from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer Disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior). Process number: 88881.134286/2016-01 - Doctoral Sa