Costs of vaccine delivery in the Gambia before and after, pentavalent and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introductions

The Gambia introduced seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in August 2009 and switched to 13-valent PCV in April 2011. In April 2009, monovalent hepatitis B and combined Diphtheria–Tetanus–Pertussis and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines were transitioned to a combined pentavalent vaccine. The current schedule offers three doses of PCV and pentavalent, and continues to give children monovalent hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The researchers estimated the overall costs of the Gambian immunisation programme and the incremental costs of introducing pentavalent and the seven-valent PCV.