Looking into Vaccine Wastage

Looking into Vaccine Wastage

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, August 13, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6.6 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.5 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 3.2 billion Low-income country total: 331 million COVAX total: 3.3 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 15 billion doses INSIGHTS Author: Blen Biru Looking into Vaccine Wastage Despite the shortage of Covid-19 vaccines globally, millions of doses are being wasted rather than used. Vaccine wastage is defined as vaccines discarded, lost, damaged or destroyed according to the WHO. There are two phases where vaccines are exposed to wastage – opened and unopened vials. Unopened vials are mostly wasted due to expiration, heat exposure, and incorrect inventory, and open vials are primarily wasted through contamination. A certain amount of wastage is expected, given the nature and complexity of vaccine…
Read More
Will booster shots prolong the pandemic?

Will booster shots prolong the pandemic?

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Saturday, August 7, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6.5 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.5 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 3.2 billion Low-income country total: 331 million COVAX total: 3.3 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 15.8 billion doses INSIGHTS Author: Andrea Taylor Will booster shots prolong the pandemic? A handful of wealthy countries recently announced plans to roll out booster shots in late 2021 for vulnerable populations already fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Israel has already begun providing third shots for immunocompromised people and is opening eligibility this week to everyone over the age of 60. Germany, France, the UK, and the US have indicated they will begin boosters for priority groups as early as September. The WHO responded quickly with a reminder that most of the world is still waiting for their first…
Read More
Delta variant poses a global threat despite increased production of vaccines

Delta variant poses a global threat despite increased production of vaccines

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, July 23, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6.3 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.4 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 3.1 billion Low-income country total: 331 million COVAX total: 3.2 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 14 billion doses INSIGHTS Delta variant poses a global threat despite increased production of vaccines.  Author: Joslin Coggan While businesses return to full capacity and mask mandates are lifted in much of the US and several other countries with relatively high vaccination rates, there is growing concern about the impact from the rapidly spreading COVID-19 delta variant. The delta variant was identified in India in December 2020 and was the dominant variant during the country’s devastating outbreak in the spring of 2021. At the beginning of June 2021, the delta variant had spread to 62 countries. The…
Read More
How can LMIC countries prepare to receive and efficiently administer large numbers of COVID-19 vaccine doses?

How can LMIC countries prepare to receive and efficiently administer large numbers of COVID-19 vaccine doses?

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, July 16, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6.1 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.1 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 2.8 billion Low-income country total: 270.2 million COVAX total: 2.5 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 12.9 billion doses INSIGHTS How can LMIC countries prepare to receive and efficiently administer large numbers of COVID-19 vaccine doses? Author: Andrea Taylor Of the 3.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses that have been administered globally, only about 69 percent of the doses have been administered in low and middle income countries (LMICs) with 84 percent of the world’s population. Wealthy nations’ over-purchasing of the limited vaccine supply left LMIC nations without access to COVID-19 vaccine doses. However, as these nations start to vaccinate their populations and curb the pandemic within their borders, we are seeing increased donations from over-supplied…
Read More
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT VACCINE EXPORTS

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT VACCINE EXPORTS

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, July 9, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6.2 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.3 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 1.9 billion Low-income country total: 306 million COVAX total: 3.1 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 12.9 billion doses INSIGHTS Taking a closer look at vaccine exports Author: Joslin Coggan Many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have yet to receive the vaccines necessary to slow the spread of Covid-19 despite recent purchase and donation agreements. In recent weeks, large scale donations of Covid-19 vaccines have made headlines as the US and EU promised to send hundreds of millions of doses to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, many of these deals are yet to be realized as exports have not matched demand. Supply…
Read More
THE G7 UNDERWHELMS, WITH NUMBERS THAT DON’T ADD UP

THE G7 UNDERWHELMS, WITH NUMBERS THAT DON’T ADD UP

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, June 18, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.2 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 1.8 billion Low-income country total: 271 million COVAX total: 2.4 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 12.7 billion doses INSIGHTS The G7 underwhelms, with numbers that don’t add up Author: Andrea Taylor The G7 began their much-anticipated summit last week with a target to reach 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine in pledged donations for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The result could be described as underwhelming (as well as unclear). To be fair, the US set a high bar early in the week, with a plan to donate 500 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses (working “with,” but not necessarily through, COVAX). It was going to be…
Read More
HOW CAN INDIA ADDRESS A POTENTIAL THIRD WAVE OF SARS-CV-2 INFECTIONS?

HOW CAN INDIA ADDRESS A POTENTIAL THIRD WAVE OF SARS-CV-2 INFECTIONS?

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, June 11, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 6 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.2 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 1.4 billion Low-income country total: 271 million COVAX total: 2.4 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 12.2 billion doses INSIGHTS How can India address a potential third wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections? Author: Nikki Prattipati Starting mid-March 2021, India has become the epicenter of COVID-19 as a second wave of infections devastated the country. India reported 50 percent of global cases and 30 percent of global COVID-19 deaths, and an alarming rate of over 400,000 daily new cases at the height of the wave in early May 2021. While official projections estimate 29 million total infections and 360,000 deaths, low testing rates and the lack of available data lead some…
Read More
HOW DO COVID-19 VARIANTS IMPACT VACCINATIONS AND THE ABILITY TO END THE ACUTE PHASE OF THE PANDEMIC?

HOW DO COVID-19 VARIANTS IMPACT VACCINATIONS AND THE ABILITY TO END THE ACUTE PHASE OF THE PANDEMIC?

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, June 4, 2021 [caption id="attachment_1629" align="alignnone" width="300"] Coronavirus and DNA, virus mutation. New variant and strain of SARS CoV 2. Microscopic view. 3D rendering[/caption] High-income country confirmed dose total: 6 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 2.2 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 1.1 billion Low-income country total: 270 million COVAX total: 2.4 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 11.9 billion doses INSIGHTS How do COVID-19 variants impact vaccinations and the ability to end the acute phase of the pandemic? Author: Blen Biru Multiple COVID-19 genetic variants have been detected since the initial SARS-CoV-2 strain was found in China, the most significant of which are classified by the WHO as variants of concern or variants of interest, depending on their attributes and risk level. The variants of concern are…
Read More
IS VACCINE TOURISM ETHICAL?

IS VACCINE TOURISM ETHICAL?

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Friday, May 28, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 5.9 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 1.8 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 961 million Low-income country total: 270 million COVAX total: 2.4 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 11.3 billion doses INSIGHTS Is vaccine tourism ethical? Author: Blen Biru According to Our World in Data, 1.78B people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 across the world. About 16% of the fully vaccinated (289M people) live in the US, which has a very high rate of vaccination, especially compared to neighboring countries in Latin America. The abundance of available vaccines in the US has attracted foreign travelers from South America and other parts of the world looking to get vaccinated, referred to as vaccine tourism. An estimated 70,000 people from…
Read More
THE G20 PLEDGE DRIVE

THE G20 PLEDGE DRIVE

News
WEEKLY COVID VACCINE RESEARCH UPDATE Tuesday, May 25, 2021 High-income country confirmed dose total: 5.93 billion Upper-middle-income country total: 1.82 billion Lower-middle-income country total: 959.6 million Low-income country total: 270.2 million COVAX total: 1.96 billion Total worldwide confirmed purchases of Covid-19 vaccines: 10.9 billion doses INSIGHTS The G20 Pledge Drive Author: Andrea Talor The G20 met today in Rome for a Global Health Summit and vaccine equity was at the top of the agenda. According to Reuters, the resulting “Rome Declaration” calls for voluntary licensing and technology transfers to increase production of Covid-19 vaccines globally. The declaration also reportedly mentioned the important role of the ACT-Accelerator (of which COVAX is one pillar) but did not commit to funding it (the ACT-Accelerator still needs $19 billion to reach its goal). A flurry pledges were made…
Read More