Is the world soon to be under the yoke of a shortage of ingredients to produce Covid vaccines? The main players from the line of business shared their worries this Tuesday March 9, 2021 as for the matter, after they noticed a shortage in supplier chain was starting. Are mostly worried: glass-makers, as well as cap production plants, crucial to enable preservation of vaccines and their delivery. The latter also called for making marketing procedures easier.
To solve the problem Covax system partners virtually met on Monday March 8 and Tuesday 9. The conference included Gavi (a global Vaccine Alliance), its research branch (Cepi), WHO, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), emerging countries’ manufacturers and even health experts and governments. The goal? Addressing issues caused by vaccine mass production.
And what a production! 10 billion doses are to be manufactured this year by the pharmaceutical industry, namely twice as many as the 2019 production capacity in all vaccines produced during this period of time. “This is the largest ramping up of manufacturing the world has ever seen”, head if IFMPA Thomas Cueni explained. He went on: “We should not be surprised if there are bumps along the road”.
A shortage, players expect to be as little impactful as possible, by anticipating it. Head of Cepi Richard Hatchett said they recently started to notice “increasing signs of strain within supply chains”. He goes on: “companies are beginning to report spot shortages of critical materials, raw materials, critical consumables, even equipment that is necessary for vaccine manufacturing”. A shortage caused by some countries willing to “impose export controls or in the case of the United States, to use the Defense Production Act”. Cepi head adds these mechanisms can cause real problems.
A problem that needs to be settled to avoid another slackening in global vaccination campaigns and a new surge of the epidemic.
