Modeling gonorrhea vaccination to find optimal targeting strategies that balance impact with cost-effectiveness.

Publication date: Jun 21, 2025

Vaccination for UK men who have sex with men (MSM) at increased gonorrhea risk has been advised, but not yet implemented. Effective targeting is essential for cost-effectiveness, but previously-examined approaches have disadvantages: Vaccination-on-Diagnosis has low coverage (limiting impact), and Vaccination-according-to-Risk requires asking about sexual behavior to identify at-risk individuals, which is not always feasible. We developed a transmission-dynamic model to evaluate novel strategies offering vaccination based on information readily available to clinicians (diagnostic/vaccination history, if the patient is seeking care due to partner notification). Offering vaccination to MSM who are notified partners of gonorrhea cases or were diagnosed themselves in the past 2 years averts 1. 6x more cases and is more cost-effective than Vaccination-on-Diagnosis. If vaccination provides 20% protection for 1. 5 years after primary vaccination and 3 years after revaccination then at lb18/dose administered, all considered strategies have ≥50 and ≥90% probabilities of positive net monetary benefit compared with no vaccination with a quality-adjusted life year valued at lb20,000 and lb30,000 respectively, thus meeting the UK criteria for cost-effectiveness. All novel strategies considered achieve greater impact than Vaccination-on-Diagnosis without the feasibility issues of Vaccination-according-to-Risk.

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Concepts Keywords
Clinicians According
Men Considered
Revaccination Cost
Vaccination Diagnosis
Effective
Effectiveness
Gonorrhea
Men
Msm
Offering
Risk
Targeting
Vaccination
Vaccines
Years

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH gonorrhea
drug DRUGBANK Isoxaflutole
drug DRUGBANK Dimethyl sulfone
disease IDO history
disease IDO quality
disease MESH meningitis
disease MESH infection
disease MESH uncertainty
drug DRUGBANK Coenzyme M
drug DRUGBANK Spinosad
drug DRUGBANK Ceftriaxone
disease MESH STIs
disease IDO site
disease MESH sequelae
disease MESH asymptomatic infections
drug DRUGBANK Aspartame
disease IDO bacteria
disease MESH tuberculosis
pathway KEGG Tuberculosis
disease IDO algorithm
disease MESH trichomoniasis
drug DRUGBANK Doxycycline
disease IDO antibiotic resistance
drug DRUGBANK Cefixime
disease MESH HIV infections
disease MESH AIDS
disease MESH lifestyles
disease MESH papilloma
disease MESH COVID 19
pathway REACTOME Reproduction

Original Article

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