The coronavirus vaccines are being distributed for administration among high-risk individuals such as health care workers. Meanwhile, these efforts are not enough to end the global Covid pandemic. A recent piece related to health policy appeared in the journal The Lancet that highlights four important schemes to ensure the success of these vaccines against the virus.
Increasing the production of coronavirus vaccines
According to the authors of this recent paper, 10 vaccine manufacturing companies predicted that they will supply 10 million vaccine doses within this year. Moreover, nine vaccine developing companies said that they can produce 700 million doses in a year.
However, none of these companies or developers have completed the predicted vaccine dose development. Moreover, a single developer can not fulfill the supply for every nation around the world.
The companies face another hurdle of the limited supply of glass vials, stabilizing agents, and syringes. The unavailability of these products can hinder the timely production of vaccines. According to the WHO, if countries around the world and developing companies collaborated, they can come up with better results.
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Affordability of Vaccines
The Covid pandemic already caused a financial loss for millions of individuals around the world. Meanwhile, the high price of coronavirus vaccines can become a hurdle for poor nations. Therefore, the affordability of the vaccines is an essential step to ensure that every country has access to the shots. Moreover, the Covid pandemic can not come to an end if every country does not vaccine its entire population.
Currently, the prices of various vaccine candidates range from $5 to $62. The different costs account for the production expenses, technology employed, profit margin, and funds. The governments may increase the cost of vaccines due to distribution costs. Therefore, keeping a low cost from the beginning is essential.
According to the data published in Lancet, nearly 85% population of the world has low income and can not afford the vaccines.
Global Access To Vaccines
The limited supply of vaccines can cause a hurdle in the allocation to all countries of the world. The high-income countries secured most of the vaccine doses available for this year. A further delay in vaccination programs will give more time for the virus to mutate and cause more deaths.
The WHO created a global facility to supply vaccines at a low cost to poor countries. This facility called Covax will allocate the vaccines to low-income countries.
Adequate Infrastructure
The distribution and supply of the vaccines can ensure the end of the Covid pandemic. Most of the countries lack the adequate infrastructure required to identify high-risk individuals. Moreover, they will need to transport these doses to various locations to administer them.
Apart from these factors, another important aspect is the hesitation related to vaccines among the public. The governments need to address this issue and ensure that eligible people receive their shots. There is still a huge population of people against getting the coronavirus vaccine. The authorities need to change their minds by educating them about the benefits of the vaccine. Otherwise, it would become difficult to put the Covid pandemic to an end.
