Vaccination: what is at risk for public health and economic perspectives?

Every year, the Journées d’Économie de la Santé unite a number of prestigious speakers around a common theme.
Held on May 30, 2007, this year's day, the 8th in the series, was devoted to vaccination, both with regard to public health and its economic perspectives.
The aim of this day was to further explore into questions raised during the day in 2006 on the place of prevention in the health policy, with particular regard to prevention via vaccination.
Vaccines are a particular case as they are given to people who are not ill. They therefore cannot be considered to be a treatment. Vaccines are intended for healthy individuals to prevent the onset of the diseases of tomorrow.
The first part of this day was devoted to general communications on a variety of subjects including extent of risk and risk monitoring, suitable timelines, evaluation, and collective preferences.
The second part was devoted to what is at stake in terms of public health and to the economic perspectives represented, on the one hand, by the cervical cancer vaccine and, on the other, the risk of an avian flu pandemic. Each of these presentations was followed by a lively debate with the audience.
Finally, a break in these discussions was created by the more long–term view of what is at stake presented by an ethics specialist.