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Yup. Manufacturers will need to move to single dose vials pretty soon. I was talking to pharmacists that reconstitute a 10 dose vial to vaccinate someone and have to toss the other 9 doses as they go bad. 11M wasted doses is frightening. That would vaccinate the entire population of New Zealand.
Twice over
Yup. Manufacturers will need to move to single dose vials pretty soon. I was talking to pharmacists that reconstitute a 10 dose vial to vaccinate someone and have to toss the other 9 doses as they go bad. 11M wasted doses is frightening. That would vaccinate the entire population of New Zealand.
Not sure about that. When the mass vaccination phase will end, sure, but now, with adequate planning, we can still make good use of these multi-dose vials. 3% waste is bad but not that bad. I remember in the beginning of the vaccination campaign that the vials themselves were in short order. It is probably all sorted out but making 10 times more will create additional logistics and production challenges. Is it worth…
Wastage is bad obviously, but 3% is pretty good. I've heard it's at or below the wastage for similar drugs.
It will be interesting to see the geographic distribution when the site gets this part done:
> I’m working on mapping all retail pharmacy locations to waste over time
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure about that. When the mass vaccination phase will end, sure, but now, with adequate planning, we can still make good use of these multi-dose vials. 3% waste is bad but not that bad. I remember in the beginning of the vaccination campaign that the vials themselves were in short order. It is probably all sorted out but making 10 times more will create additional logistics and production challenges. Is it worth…
But the "plan the vaccinations" doesn't happen in countries that are at a point where most people who can be bothered to make an appointment already got vaccinated and they rely on making it easily available for walk-ins in as many places as possible to reach the rest.
Waste not want not, a 3% loss isn't great. But this must be one of the fastest rollouts of a vaccine in human history - it just doesn't matter that much. The 97% that is not wasted is the important part.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the "plan the vaccinations" doesn't happen in countries that are at a point where most people who can be bothered to make an appointment already got vaccinated and they rely on making it easily available for walk-ins in as many places as possible to reach the rest.
Vaccines aren't free but aren't expensive to produce. If people are just walking in off the street to be vaccinated, with no planning, then it is probably past the point where 3% wastage is material. Waste not want not, a 3% loss isn't great. But this must be one of the fastest rollouts of a vaccine in human history - it just doesn't matter that much. The 97% that is not wasted is the important part.
Where are the majority of vaccines produced ending up nowadays? Rich countries placed orders greater than they could possibly use, and now rates of take-up are slowing in those countries. Presumably vaccine is being produced as fast as ever to fulfil those orders. Is Covax actually getting the excess to the rest of the world?
Not that we (western hemisphere) are not wasting other things that rest of the planet's inhabitants can benefit from.