Baby Vaccines Prices in the Philippines via Private Clinic and Pedia

Hi, everyone! Welcome to Penfires. My name is Mommy Cille, a first-time mom to a beautiful and smart little girl. I am sharing the cost of vaccines of our baby as administered by a pedia in a private clinic in Metro Cebu. May the information contained in this blog post be helpful to other moms and dads looking for idea on vaccination cost for babies in the Philippines as well as schedules.  

This is going to be a blog that will get regularly updated as our baby gets her vaccine. Bookmarked this post or visit Penfires from time to time if you want to be abreast of progress. 

 I’ll be including information such as the company that produce the vaccine, the brand name, the price, and when the vaccine was given to our baby.  

Parents like us need to be prepared early on for the numerous vaccinations that the little ones will undergo. We know that vaccines procured privately can be very expensive, so moms and dads best be prepared financially ahead of time. 

Note: I will not be sharing the name of our baby’s pedia. 

Vaccines for FREE at Health Centers 

Government Health Centers do provide free vaccinations for babies. The biggest pro about this is of course the huge savings on the part of the parents since there is no need to shell-out money to get the vaccines.  

On the other hand, the cons include (1) that parents need to queue for the vaccine – if it’s a major health center in an urban area, chances are the line can get very long, so consider time-cost (2) not all vaccine types are available at the health center, (3) it’s a public center so there is a possibility that the center can get too crowded during vaccination day; big crowd increases the exposure risk of the baby for infections, etc. (4) if the vaccine vial is good for say 3 doses, which means good for 3 babies, and only you and your baby showed up at the center, you may need to come back again in another day and queue again and hope that there will be 2 other babies waiting for the same vaccine that you intend to get.  

Before the pandemic, when my husband and I were planning for a baby, we were geared on having the baby vaccinations done in a government health center. Our main reason is that hubby’s mom worked as an RHU nurse for more than 30 years and he has witnessed firsthand the babies who were vaccinated by her mom for free at the center, grew okay. But Covid happened and we are taking extra-extra precaution now. We do not want to expose our precious baby and even us to a crowd, so health centers are out for us. Private pediatrician and clinic it is.  

Baby Vaccine Cost in a Private Clinic 

The cost of vaccines for babies is not uniform among private pedias and clinics. Prices differs depending on lots of factors, which may include the following: 

1. Location of the clinic of the chosen pediatrician. Clinics inside the medical arts of premium hospitals versus regular hospitals.  

What do I mean? Simply that a pedia based in St Lukes or Asian Hospital will most likely charge higher prices versus a pedia based in a small-town hospital, for the same branded vaccine. Why? This is just my guess, but I think it’s partly because of the different clientele. Rich and well-to-do parents who can afford, they prefer premium clinics / hospitals while low/mid-income folks like go to ‘regular’ hospitals. Economics is in play.  

More importantly, premium hospitals also charge premium clinic rents and the likes, so another reason for higher vaccine cost in these establishments. 

2. The price mark-up for the vaccine. Different percentage mark-up applied. 

 In general, pharmaceutical companies which manufactures vaccines give the same price per unit to hospitals, pharmacies, and dispensing doctors. But there could be special deals. *I worked for 5 years for a multinational pharma company as a medrep / territory manager in the past, which gave me a bit of knowledge on this arena. 

A. A pedia who will buy vaccines in bulk may get big discount or deals like 10+1 from the pharma company. Now, this pediatrician may choose to extend the discounted price received from companies to the parents. If so, the cost of vaccine then becomes cheaper versus ‘standard’.  If this is your type of pedia, swerte niyo. 😊  

B. Pediatricians and other dispensing doctors will compute for how much the final vaccine price to be given to patients considering purchase cost, overhead cost, etc.

Overhead includes electricity to keep the refrigerator running, as you know some, if not all, vaccines need to be kept at a certain temperature to maintain effectiveness. Another overhead cost is the doctor’s secretary / assistant’s fee for facilitating record keeping etc. Plus, the opportunity cost for ‘sleeping money’, since vaccines are not fast-moving products and yet doctors need to have some stocks at hand in case a patient suddenly needs one. 

C. Consultation fee and vaccine injection administration fee is typically already incorporated into the cost of vaccine.  If your pedia charges P500 for consultation while your friend’s pedia charges P800, then chances are the vaccine cost at your friend’s pedia will be more expensive that at your pedia. 

To sum this up, mark-up percentage may differ among doctors and clinics, some may have 10% price mark-up to their purchase price from the pharma company, some may levy 20% markup, some 30%, etc. 

 Medicine and vaccine prices among different medical practitioner usually vary.  

Vaccine Brands, Prices, and Schedules

**Vaccine prices already includes the consultation fee.

At birth, our baby was immediately given recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine, the brand is Euvax B Pedia costing P567.84, a drug made by Sanofi Pasteur.  

A few hours after birth, our baby was given a BCG shot. The brand was not indicated in the hospital’s billing statement. The BCG vaccine price is P100.  

At 6 weeks old, our baby got 2 vaccines. One was the 6 in 1 vaccine, Hexaxim by Sanofi Pasteur, the price is P4,000. The second vaccine given this day was the oral rotavirus vaccine, Rotarix by Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) with price at P3,500. 

At 2 months old, our baby was given her 1^st pcv 13 vaccine shot, brand name Prevenar 13 by Pfizer, price of this pneumococcal vaccine is P4,700. 

At 3 months old, our baby got her second dose of Hexaxim and Rotamix. Same prices at her 6 weeks vaccination, for a total of P7,500 for the two vaccines on this day. This is by the way the second and last dose for the oral rotavirus vaccine. 

The 6 in 1 vaccine is given as a single injection on the thigh area to protect the baby against 6 serious childhood conditions which includes diphtheria, hepatitis B, Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b), polio, tetanus, and whooping cough (pertussis)

At 4 months old, our baby got her second shot of Pfizer’s Prevenar 13 costing us P4,700. 

*We changed pedia when baby was 5 months old, one whose clinic is a lot nearer to our place and has a clinic both located inside a hospital and outside aka territorial.

At 5 months old, our baby got her third shot of Pfizer’s Prevenar 13 costing us P4,500. It’s P200 cheaper versus the other pedia but the other pedia’s clinic is more equipt (full ppe pedia and secretary, dehumidifier, etc).

At 6 months old, our baby got the 3rd dose for the 6 in one vaccine. But on the official immunization record of baby – only 3 were indicated “Hexa3”. The brand name of the given vaccine is Infanrix by GSK. This vaccine price is P4,000.

At 7 months – Our baby just had a measles vaccine, price was P1,500. The pedia did not attached the vaccine sticker so I don’t know the brand name and company maker for the vaccine for measles administered to our little one.

At 10 months – The vaccine given to our baby to protect from Japanese Encephalitis is Imojev manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur. Cost of JEP vaccine is P3,000.

At 11 months – upcoming vaccine is the Flu Vaccine or Influenza Vaccine.

These are the upcoming vaccines for our baby spread-out as she grows older, I will update this post after vaccination: 

MMR – 2 doses 

Varicella – 2 doses 

Hep A – 2 doses 

Influenza – 3 doses plus 3 booster shots 

Japanese Encephalitis – 2 doses 

Meningococcemia – 2 doses 

Typhoid – 3 doses 

Dengue – 3 doses 

HPV – 3 doses 

Mahabang habang journey pa sa vaccinations but kakayanin naming mag-anak with God’s provision. 😊 

Thankfully, so far, our daughter did not develop fever after her vaccinations. We hope this will remain true for the rest of the vaccine shots.  

May all our kids grow strong and healthy!