title: National legislation and spending on vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean.
abstract: This study examined the dynamics of vaccine spending and vaccine legislation in the Americas Region over the period 1980-2013. Annual vaccine expenditures from thirty-one countries were extracted from the Pan American Health Organization Revolving Fund database. Information on vaccine laws and regulations was provided by the PAHO Family, Gender, and Life Course Unit. Both time series and event history models were estimated. The results show that passing an immunization law led a representative country to increase its vaccine spending, controlling for income, infant mortality, population size, and DPT3 vaccine coverage. Countries with higher vaccine coverage were also more likely to have passed laws. Conversely, higher income countries were less likely to have vaccine laws. Vaccine legislation will likely play a similarly important role in other regions as more countries move towards immunization program ownership.
authors.affiliation: Independent, previously at the Sabin Institute, Washington, DC, USA. mike.mcquestion@gmail.com.|, 214 Ridgewood Road, Baltimore, MD, 21210, USA. mike.mcquestion@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McQuestion
authors.affiliation: Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Ana Gabriela Felix
authors.initials: AGF
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Cara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Janusz
authors.affiliation: Sabin Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Jon Kim
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Andrus
mesh_terms: D017691:Caribbean Region; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D061889:Healthcare Financing; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D007843:Latin America; D010175:Pan American Health Organization / Q000191:economics; D014612:Vaccines / Q000191:economics*
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines
keywords: Latin America; PAHO; health financing; immunizations, vaccines