Free vaccines cheaper than consequences of low vaccination rate: Alberta Medical Association

A cost analysis done by the Alberta Medical Association compares the price of vaccine waste to hospitalization costs. CTV Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg reports.

If saving money is the Alberta government’s priority, the most cost-effective route is distributing the COVID-19 vaccine widely and freely – not charging $100 for it, says the Alberta Medical Association (AMA).

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The AMA on Wednesday released its own cost analysis of COVID-19 hospitalization costs for comparison to the cost of unused vaccines, which is why the Alberta government says it has implemented the fee for the shot.

“If five per cent of Albertans are deterred (by the $100 vaccine fee), that ends up costing all of us taxpayers a significant amount of money. By our estimates, it would exceed $65 million just on hospital costs,” AMA president Dr. Brian Wirzba told CTV News Edmonton in an interview.

The AMA’s math uses the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s estimate that the average cost of a COVID-19 hospitalization in Alberta is almost $36,400, excluding physician services. Intensive care unit admissions cost up to $51,000.

In 2023-24, unvaccinated Albertans were hospitalized for COVID-19 10 times more than those who were fully vaccinated.

“If we vaccinated 310 people at a cost of $100 per vaccination, we would actually be on par with a single hospitalization,” Wirzba said.

Hospital costs reach $65 million in a scenario with a 15-per cent COVID-19 infection rate, but could be higher or lower depending on how fast the disease is spreading. The AMA used a 15-per cent infection rate because it aligned with recent wastewater data.

It also says there are costs beyond the $36,400 for a hospital stay, from strain on the health-care system to economic effects from missed work due.

‘More headache’

The Alberta government has pointed to more than one million COVID-19 vaccine doses thrown out in 2023-24, worth roughly $135 million, to justify its $100 “administrative fee” for COVID-19 shots.

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton Wednesday afternoon, the ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services said, in part:

“Our approach is in line with current guidance from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), which suggests COVID-19 vaccination should be considered optional for healthy, non-senior adults. NACI cites analysis from Canada, the US, and the UK showing universal COVID vaccination would not be cost-effective at this point, and does not recommend universal vaccination. Quebec’s separate analysis came to the same conclusion.

“The current guidance from NACI and Quebec reflects strong population-level immunity which has led to a much lower risk of severe illness. We are seeing this lower risk in our monitoring, with levels of COVID admissions in 2025 to date the lowest since 2020. In addition, uptake of the COVID vaccine has been dropping; last year, only 13.9% of Albertans received the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Unvaccinated hospital costs reach $130 million in the AMA’s modelling when about 11 per cent of Albertans are unvaccinated in a scenario with a 15-per cent infection rate.

The association modelled costs for up to 20 per cent of Albertans being unvaccinated. The AMA says it’s not unreasonable that more than five per cent of Albertans won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine because of barriers to access like misinformation or cost, which fuels its advocacy for a more accessible vaccine program.

“Paying your rent (and) eating versus getting a vaccine. I think people are going to choose the things that they see right in front of them on a day-to-day basis,” Wirzba said.

He also referred to the government needing to recently clarify that its vaccine pre-ordering system did not mean Albertans would not be able to get vaccinated next year if they hadn’t signed up for a shot.

“People are confused about vaccines already. We’re struggling with misinformation, disinformation, and this just adds more headache to the average Albertan who is just trying to do what’s best for their health.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg