Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

Even though COVID-19 vaccines have been widely available in the U.S. for more than a year, the manufacturer of a new vaccine, and some analysts, say the latest option could move some unvaccinated people to finally get the shot.

Silvia Taylor, SVP of global corporate affairs for Novavax, which produced the vaccine, said her company also has a communications strategy to increase vaccination levels around the world.

The company, which is based in Maryland, requested in late January that the Food and Drug Administration authorize its vaccine for adults. On March 10, the company launched a campaign for consumers, We Do Vaccines, and one for healthcare providers, Know Our Vax. They provide information about the companys Covid vaccine, as well as other vaccines.

In advance of the launch, Taylor spoke with PRWeek about what makes the Novavax vaccine different from others and why she thinks some people will finally decide to get a shot.

Novavaxs COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, is a protein-based vaccine, and that is the key difference. The vaccines on the market right now are mRNA and some viral vector vaccines, and the reason our vaccine is important is its based on a technology platform that is well understood and tried and true in vaccines.

Also, our vaccine is not frozen. Because it is refrigerated, it can be distributed using the standard vaccine-distribution channels around the world, which means that if you are looking at populations in remote areas, in rural areas, in the developing world, our vaccine can be a really good choice.

This is a pandemic, so we need to look at it from a global public health perspective. Globally, about 56% of the population has been vaccinated. That is an impressive number, but it is far from universal.

The mantra in a pandemic, especially a COVID-19 pandemic, is that no one is safe until everyone is safe, so we need to make sure that vaccination rates are universally high.

What is so amazing to us is the number of people around the world who tell us that even though they have had other choices in vaccination, they are waiting for our vaccine. Those are people in countries like the U.S., and in Europe, where we have already made tremendous progress in shipping our vaccine.

(In Germany, a survey found that among 4,000 unvaccinated hospital workers, 1,800 were interested in getting a protein-based vaccine, according to the Guardian.)

This is a technology platform that people recognize and understand. There are vaccines on the market, like for HPV and Shingles and influenza, that use protein-based technology. Our job in communications is to make sure that people know what our vaccine is, its clinical profile, its well-tolerated safety profile.

We have two campaigns that are built off a common educational theme one geared to consumers and one geared towards healthcare providers.

The consumer one is going to educate people around the world about the common types of vaccines and the options that people have. I think in COVID-19, we have seen a really educated population that I havent seen in other markets in terms of, how does this product, this vaccine work? What does it do in my body? How might I react, and most importantly, how will it protect me from COVID-19?

Also, in an environment that we have never seen before, where corporate awareness is synonymous with vaccine awareness, it is really important for people to know who Novavax is. We know that awareness of the company will drive confidence in the vaccine that comes from that company. For healthcare providers, our campaign is aimed at educating them about our technology and about Novavax.

All of it actually. We are going to have websites. The consumer one is called Wedovaccines.com, and then the healthcare providers one is Knowourvax.com.

We also have social media that were going to be doing to raise awareness of the campaigns and traditional journal advertising, so its going to be a mix of digital and print.

I really think its two things. There is this public health component; its good for the world to ensure that global vaccination rates are high so that we can finally eradicate this pandemic. Until we do that, variants are still going to emerge.

But also more concretely, its to keep oneself and their loved ones safe from the ill consequences of severe disease, hospitalization and death.

I think whats important is when people have a choice. Around the world, people have not had a lot of choice in terms of the platform available to them. We find that it matters. People want to get educated and want to understand what the vaccine they are getting will do to them and for them.

Our strategy is to educate people on the science and the facts, and the facts are that we have 90% efficacy; a well-tolerated safety profile and we are built on a technology platform that people have taken before, and that is reassuring for many people.

Here is the original post:

Inside Novavax's two-pronged campaign to introduce its COVID-19 vaccine to the public and healthcare providers - PR Week

If the plan is adopted, New Yorkers who have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine but have yet to receive a booster will receive a notice with a location and an appointment for the shots.Credit...James Estrin/The New York Times

Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president, and Dr. Jay Varma, a top health adviser to former Mayor Bill de Blasio, called on the city on Wednesday for a plan to encourage New Yorkers to get their booster shots and protect residents from any future waves of the coronavirus.

The suggested plan is driven by the potential threat of a new variant, which could cause a fresh rise in cases and hospitalizations and the need for more forceful action, Dr. Varma said.

The plan also comes as Mayor Eric Adams has been aggressively promoting efforts to rebuild the citys economy in recent weeks, removing the vaccination mandate for indoor activities and mask mandates for schools. The mayor has also been encouraging tourists to visit New York, telling people at a recent news conference in Times Square to come and spend money.

If the plan were to be adopted, New Yorkers who have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine but have yet to get a booster would receive a text, an email and a postcard with a location and an appointment to get the shots. The plan also suggests reinstating the $100 incentive for receiving the booster shot, a program that was introduced by Mr. de Blasio and reintroduced by Mr. Adams in February, although it expired at the end of the month.

I am thrilled at the progress weve made in the past two months and exhilarated by the increasing return to normal life in New York City, Mr. Levine said in an interview. We need this.

The effect of the Omicron wave over the winter was a major setback for the citys recovery, he said, one that he doesnt want to see again. There are steps we can take now to prepare ourselves, so that we can blunt the severity of a future wave.

Positive test rates, deaths and hospitalizations in New York City have all fallen in recent weeks, according to a New York Times database. An average of 662 daily cases were being reported as of Tuesday, compared with more than 40,000 a day during the peak of the Omicron wave.

Booster shots have been shown to be 90 percent effective at preventing hospitalization from the Omicron variant, and were found to be especially beneficial against infection and death for people ages 50 and older. But new city vaccination data shows wide disparities among residents who have received their booster shots.

Almost half of Manhattan has been boosted, compared with only 27 percent in the Bronx. Citywide, while 36 percent of the citys residents overall had received their dose as of Tuesday, only 24 percent of Black residents got a booster, compared with 57 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander residents.

Mr. Levine and Dr. Varmas plan also suggested broader Covid safety measures, calling for the city to provide frontline workers and people in communities hardest hit by the pandemic with Covid safety bags, which would contain rapid test kits and masks. It also suggests that government agencies allow more flexibility for remote work, as well as establish a new program to improve data collection on positive coronavirus test rates.

In a statement on Wednesday, Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for the citys health department, said the citys case tracking system was constantly evolving and that the department was open to all recommendations on how to improve the citys Covid response.

Data on race and poverty, as well as other characteristics, are considered in our data and we especially appreciate their prioritization, he added. Equity has been, and must continue to be, at the center of the recovery.

The speed at which Mr. Adams has relaxed the citys Covid safety precautions has worried some who have argued that the vaccination mandate allowed more people to feel safer going out in the city.

In an interview, Dr. Varma said he believed it would be difficult to get residents to comply with the mandates if they were reinstated. At this point, he added, the city should focus on preventing as many deaths as possible through an increased effort to get its residents boosted.

We need to focus on the things that government absolutely can and should do, Dr. Varma said. To me, that includes very targeted, directed outreach for people to get vaccinated.

Read the original:

Covid-19: Latest News and Updates - The New York Times

For a brief time - again - the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to be fading. Now that Omicron is becoming less common, its sister variant, BA.2, seems to be surging worldwide and in the U.S. For that and more, continue reading.

Next Variant Likely to Be More Contagious

The World Health Organizationindicatesthat the next COVID-19 variant is more contagious than Omicron. However, the most important question is whether it will be more deadly, and nobody seems to know if that will be the case.

The next variant of concern will be more fit, and what we mean by that is it will be more transmissible because it will have to overtake what is currently circulating, said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHOs COVID-19 technical lead. The big question is whether or not future variants will be more or less severe.

She also warned against theories that the virus will become milder as it mutates. There is no guarantee of that, she said. We hope that that is the case, but there is no guarantee of that, and we cant bank on it. She is also concerned that newer variants may evade vaccine protection more.

CDC: Omicron BA.2 SubVariant Makes Up About 25% of New U.S. COVID-19 Cases

The so-called stealth variant, BA.2, a sister variant to Omicron BA.1, issurgingworldwide. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionestimated that BA.2 now makes up almost a quarter of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., an increase from around 10 or 11% last week. The prevalence of BA.2 is highest in the Northeast, mainly from New York and New Jersey, where it appears to make up about 39.0% of circulating viruses, and in New England, about 38.6%. BA.2 is spiking in China and Europe. Generally, although BA.2 is surging, it currently seems as if hospitalizations and deaths are not surging in parallel, although those often trail infections by two weeks. However, hospitalizations and deaths may be lower because a large percentage of the population has immunity caused by vaccination and previous infections.

Major Countries Close to Deal on Waiving COVID-19 Vaccine Patents

The World Trade Organization (WTO) hasreportedly brokereda deal with the U.S., EU, India and South Africa over intellectual property (IP) waiver over patents on COVID-19 vaccines. The agreement would allow for inexpensive generic versions of some vaccines to be manufactured and distributed to poorer countries more quickly.

The WTO has been trying to find common ground on the deal for about 18 months. The new agreement differs significantly from the initial proposal first introduced by India and South Africa in October 2020. That proposal wanted to suspend patents for successful vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, such as those by Pfizer-BioNTechand Modernafor the entire pandemic.

The new agreement will still need everybody in the WTO and the four global powers to sign off, but if that happens, the patents for COVID-19 vaccines will be suspended for three or five years, but IP patents will still protect the treatment and testing formulas. It would only apply to developing WTO countries that export less than 10% of world exports of COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021. The deal also does not apply to technology transfer and trade secrets.

As COVID-19 Surges, China Locks Down, with Potential Supply Chain Disruptions

As COVID-19 surges in China, the countrylocked downmajor swaths, including ports, vehicle and electronics factories. One of the major areas shut down was Shenzhen, a technology and finance hub adjacent to Hong Kong, and Changchun, an automobile center.

We can think of no risk to the global economy, excluding nuclear warfare, that is greater than the risk of a COVID outbreak in China that shutters industrial production, said Carl B. Weinberg of High-Frequency Economics in a report. Uncountable manufacturing supply chains pass through China.

Pfizer-BioNTech Request EUA for 4th COVID-19 Vaccine Shot

Pfizer-BioNTechfiledfor an emergency use authorization (EUA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationfor the fourth shot of their COVID-19 vaccine for people 65 years and older. The argument is the shot is necessary to boost waning immunity. It is based on real-world data collected in Israel.

The FDA also plans to hold an advisory committee meeting in early April to review whether there should be a program in October or November to encourage some or all adults to get another booster, perhaps along with the annual influenza vaccine campaign. Its not clear if an advisory committee meeting will be necessary to discuss the EUA. But the adcom will discuss whether additional shots should be the same version currently available or modified to target new variants.

Senate Shoots Down Budget to Pay for COVID-19 Programs

Senior White House officialsindicatedthe federal government doesnt have money in the budget to pay for a fourth shot after last weeks $16.5 billion proposal to fund vaccines and other coronavirus programs was shot down. Theoriginal requestwas for $22.5 billion for supplemental COVIDI-19 aid. But the aid was culled from the fiscal 2022 omnibus spending measure over a disagreement over the source of the money. The cuts will also make it more difficult for the uninsured to access COVID-19 resources.

Testing capacity will decline this month, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a briefing last week. In April, free testing and treatments for tens of millions of Americans without health insurance will end. In May, Americas supply of monoclonal antibodies will run out.

J&J Vaccine as Effective as Other Vaccines

Although earlier data suggested the Johnson & Johnsonone-shot COVID-19 vaccine was not as effective as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines,new datasuggests it is roughly equivalent to preventing infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The New York Times reports that the reasons for this arent clear, and there is no agreement among experts, but accumulated data suggests the J&J vaccine is similarly effective to its competitors.

One advantage, aside from the single-shot regimen, is that the vaccine can be refrigerated for months, making it easier to distribute in countries where the cold-chain storage needed for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines can be hard to come by. The vaccine also had some problems with rare blood clotting in women, which damaged the vaccines reputation.

Go here to see the original:

COVID-19 Isn't Done with Us Yet, Vaccine Patents and a 4th Booster - BioSpace

Effectiveness of rAd26-rAd5, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, and BBIBP-CorV vaccines for risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 and death due to COVID-19 in people older than 60 years in Argentina: a test-negative, case-control, and retrospective longitudinal study  The Lancet

Go here to see the original:

Effectiveness of rAd26-rAd5, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, and BBIBP-CorV vaccines for risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 and death due to COVID-19 in people older...

A surge in coronavirus infections in western Europe has experts and health authorities on alert for another wave of the pandemic in the United States even as most of the country has done away with restrictions after a sharp decline in cases.

Infectious-disease experts are closely watching the subvariant of omicron known as BA. 2, which appears to be more transmissible than the original strain, BA. 1, and is fueling the outbreak overseas.

Germany, a nation of 83 million people, saw more than 250,000 new cases and 249 deaths Friday, when Health Minister Karl Lauterbach called the nation's situation "critical." The country is allowing most coronavirus restrictions to end Sunday, despite the increase. The United Kingdom had a seven-day average of 65,894 cases and 79 deaths as of Sunday, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center. The Netherlands, home to fewer than 18 million people, was averaging more than 60,000 cases the same day.

In all, about a dozen nations are seeing spikes in coronavirus infections caused by BA. 2, a cousin of the BA. 1 form of virus that tore through the United States over the past three months.

In the past two years, a widespread outbreak like the one in Europe has been followed by a similar surge in the United States some weeks later. Many, but not all, experts interviewed for this story predicted that is likely to happen. China and Hong Kong, on the other hand, are experiencing rapid and severe outbreaks, but the strict zero COVID policies they have observed make them less similar to the United States than western Europe.

A number of variables including relaxed precautions against viral transmission, vaccination rates, the availability of anti-viral medications and natural immunity acquired by previous infection may affect the course of any surge in the United States, experts said.

Most importantly, it is unclear at this point how many people will become severely ill, stressing hospitals and the health care system as BA. 1 did.

Another surge also may test the public's appetite for returning to widespread mask-wearing, mandates and other measures that many have eagerly abandoned as the latest surge fades and spring approaches, they said.

"It's picking up steam. It's across at least 12 countries from Finland to Greece," said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego, who recently posted charts of the outbreak on Twitter.

"There's no question there's a significant wave there." He noted that hospitalizations for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, are rising in some places as well, despite the superior vaccination rates of many western European countries.

READ MORE: Pfizers CEO says a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose is probably necessary for everyone

At a briefing Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there have been about 35,000 cases of BA. 2 in the United States to date. But she offered confidence that "the tools we have including mRNA vaccines, therapeutics, and tests are all effective tools against the virus. And we know because it's been in the country."

Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an email Tuesday that "although the BA. 2 variant has increased in the United States over the past several weeks, it is not the dominant variant, and we are not seeing an increase in the severity of disease." The seven-day average of cases in the U.S. fell 17.9% in the past week, according to data tracked by The Washington Post, while the number of deaths dropped 17.2% and hospitalizations declined 23.2%.

Predicting the future course of the virus has proved difficult throughout the pandemic, and the current circumstances in Europe elicited a range of opinions from people who have closely tracked the pathogen and the disease it causes.

In the United States, just 65.3% of the population, 216.8 million people, are fully vaccinated, and only 96.1 million have received a booster shot, according to data tracked by The Post. In Germany, nearly 76% are fully vaccinated, according to the Johns Hopkins data, and the United Kingdom has fully vaccinated 73.6%.

That lower vaccination rate is very likely to matter as BA. 2 spreads farther in the United States, especially in regions where it is significantly lower than the national rate, several experts said. And even for people who are fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot, research data are showing that immunity to the virus fades over time. Vaccine-makers Pfizer and BioNTech Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization to offer a fourth shot to people 65 and older.

"Any place you have relatively lower vaccination rates, especially among the elderly, is where you're going to see a bump in hospitalizations and deaths from this," said Celine Gounder, an infectious diseases physician and editor at large for public health at Kaiser Health News.

Similarly, as the public sheds masks every state has dropped its mask mandate or announced plans to do so another layer of protection is disappearing, several people tracking the situation said.

"Why wouldn't it come here? Are we vaccinated enough? I don't know," said Kimberly Prather, a professor of atmospheric chemistry and an expert on aerosol transmission at the University of California at San Diego.

"So I'm wearing my mask still I am the only person indoors and people look at me funny and I don't care."

READ MORE: Pfizer and BioNTech to seek authorization of a second coronavirus booster shot for people 65 and older

Yet BA. 2 appears to be spreading more slowly in the United States than it has overseas, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, Debbie Dowell, chief medical officer for the CDC's COVID-19 response, said in a briefing for clinicians sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America Saturday.

"The speculation I've seen is that it may extend the curve going down, case rates from omicron, but is unlikely to cause another surge. that we saw initially with omicron," Dowell said.

One reason for that may be the immunity millions of people acquired recently when they were infected with the BA. 1 variant, which generally caused less severe illness than previous variants. Yet no one really knows whether infection with BA. 1 offers protection from BA. 2.

"That's the question," said Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. "Better yet, how long does it provide protection?"

Topol said the U.S. needs to improve its vaccination and booster rates immediately to protect more of the population against any coming surge.

"We have got to get the United States protected better. We have an abundance of these shots. We have to get them into people," he said.

Biden administration officials said that whatever the further spread of BA. 2 brings to the United States, the next critical step is to provide the $15.6 billion in emergency funding Congress stripped from a deal to fund the government last week. That money was slated to pay for coronavirus tests, more vaccines and anti-viral medications.

That means that some programs, if we dont get funding, could abruptly end or need to be pared back, Psaki said at Mondays briefing. And that could impact how we are able to respond to any variant.

Read more:

A COVID-19 surge in western Europe has the U.S. bracing for another wave - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Officials say circulating myths are likely keeping many people from getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

In Los Angeles County, there remain 1.7 million residents who havent received a single vaccination dose, and 2.7 million vaccinated people who are eligible for a booster but havent yet received one, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said last week.

Even among seniors 65 and over, 90% of whom are considered fully vaccinated, only 63% have received a booster shot, Ferrer said.

Among the myths Ferrer sought to clear up about boosters:

Some people may think that just two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna shots are adequate and they dont need a third shot, but getting the booster offers the best protection.

Some might think needing a booster means the primary series of vaccines dont work. Thats not true shortly after getting the first series of vaccinations, protection is high but then fades over the next few months, and the booster fortifies the immune response to fend off the coronavirus, Ferrer said.

Surviving a coronavirus infection after receiving the primary series of vaccination doesnt count as a booster, Ferrer said, and may not offer as ample protection against future variants as the additional vaccine dose might. She noted recent data showing that immunity from a past infection from the Delta variant of the coronavirus didnt necessarily protect people from getting infected with the later Omicron variant.

Booster doses dont make you sick with COVID-19. Thats impossible, because none of the vaccines or boosters contain the coronavirus.

A key front in Californias battle against COVID-19 remains getting as many people vaccinated as possible.

Most Californians, nearly 79%, have already gotten at least one dose, and about seven in 10 are fully vaccinated, according to data compiled by The Times.

Many of those who remain unvaccinated are children under 5 who are not yet eligible for the shots. Until they are, one of the most important things that we need to do is make sure the adults around them are vaccinated, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said recently at an event sponsored by the Sacramento Press Club.

But while reaching the still-substantial share of the population thats eligible but unvaccinated has been slow, those efforts are continuing to bear fruit. Every single day somebody who didnt make the decision to be vaccinated up until now is getting vaccinated, Ghaly said. And thats a success.

Thats also why, moving forward, we need to continue to be ready for those individuals to make a decision today, for one reason or another.

We see that in healthcare all the time: that people make a decision over time to receive a treatment, to stop smoking, to go and start taking care of their blood pressure and, in this case to get vaccinated, he said.

So its not something new to us. Well be patient. Well keep trying to deliver messages and we need to keep fighting the mis- and disinformation that I believe has cost many lives in California.

See the rest here:

Myths, disinformation are preventing people from getting booster shots - Los Angeles Times

Coadministration of QIV-HD Influenza Vaccine, mRNA-1273 COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe  Cancer Therapy Advisor

See the original post here:

Coadministration of QIV-HD Influenza Vaccine, mRNA-1273 COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe - Cancer Therapy Advisor

Dashboard Information

The COVID-19 vaccine dashboard is updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday by 12:30 p.m. To maximize your experience, use a device with a larger screen, such as a tablet, laptop or desktop.

Want to know the latest news on COVID-19 in Kansas? Subscribe to the Weekly Stakeholder Update inEnglish orSpanish.

View post:

Data | KDHE Vaccine KS

PHILADELPHIA -- To help fend off another wave of Covid-19, people will need a fourth dose of vaccine, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Sunday.

"Many variants are coming, and Omicron was the first one that was able to evade -- in a skillful way -- the immune protection that we're giving," Bourla told CBS' "Face the Nation."

But protection after three doses is "not that good against infections" and "doesn't last very long" when faced with a variant like Omicron.

"It is necessary, a fourth (dose) for right now," Bourla told CBS.

Currently, anyone ages 12 and up who got a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least five months ago can get a third dose.

Anyone ages 18 and up who got the two-dose Moderna vaccine should get a booster shot six months after the second dose, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And anyone who got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine should get a booster shot after two months, the CDC said.

Some moderately or severely immunocompromised people who have had three doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines can already get a fourth dose of vaccine, according to the CDC.

But it's not clear if or when the US Food and Drug Administration might authorize a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine for healthy teens and adults.

Kids under 5 might soon be able to get vaccinated

Currently, children ages 5 to 11 are eligible for two pediatric doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine but are not yet eligible for a booster. Pfizer is testing a third dose in that age group now.

And kids under age 5 are not yet eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine -- though that could change this spring, Bourla said.

Initial trial data in children ages 2 to 5 showed two doses of a smaller, child-sized vaccine didn't give the expected immunity in the 2- to 5-year-olds -- though it did for babies ages 6 months to 2 years.

So Pfizer decided to add a third child-sized dose for children under age 5 in its ongoing trial.

Pfizer should have data on its three-dose vaccine trial for children ages 6 months to 5 years by April, Bourla said.

If authorized by the FDA and recommended by the CDC, Covid-19 vaccines for children ages 6 months to 5 years might start as early as May, Bourla said.

Pfizer and Moderna have said they are working on a vaccine that would specifically protect against the Omicron variant. It's not clear yet if one is needed.

Bourla said Pfizer is also hoping to make a vaccine that will protect against Omicron and all other variants of SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes Covid-19.

The goal is to create "something that can protect for at least a year," Bourla told CBS on Sunday.

"And if we are able to achieve that, then I think it is very easy to follow and remember so that we can go back to really the way (we) used to live," he said.

The-CNN-Wire& 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Original post:

4th dose of Covid-19 vaccine will be needed, Pfizer's CEO says, but the company is working on a shot to handle all variants - WABC-TV

In the face of a pandemic rapidly claiming lives worldwide, governments, organisations and pharma companies mobilised to provide Covid-19 vaccine doses at a never-before-seen speed and scale. . But while the novel coronavirus has become our most urgent public health threat, other infectious diseases still cause the illness and death they always have, and vaccines continue to be needed.

Covid-19 wreaked havoc on drug supply chains over the past two years, but these challenges have also provided opportunities. The lessons that vaccine companies and health organisations were forced to learn due to Covid-19 from the value of strategic partnerships to the importance of localised manufacturing have equipped them with new ideas and approaches to improving global access to other crucial vaccines, for the duration of the pandemic and beyond.

The interruptions to routine vaccination programmes worldwide due to the pandemic have been significant. According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, almost 23 million children missed out on basic vaccinations as a result of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 the highest number since 2009.

From material shortages and insufficient manufacturing capacity to shipping and travel disruptions, the demands of the pandemic exposed existing vulnerabilities in the global vaccine production and supply chain, and highlighted the need to reassess how essential vaccines are made and distributed.

Margo Warren, head of policy at the Access to Medicine Foundation (AMF), says pharma companies had to think outside the box in response to Covid-19.

All of a sudden, they needed to augment supply in a way that was quite unprecedented, and think of solutions for how to actually do this.

At a forum recently organised by Access to Medicine, experts proposed shifting from a just-in-time to just-in-case manufacturing approach as a key step towards strengthening global medicine and vaccine supply.

Its about building inventory reserves making sure that companies can develop plans for stockpiling and expanding communication channels with a large network of suppliers, Warren explains.

The forums speakers also noted that for drugmakers to respond quickly and adequately to future health emergencies, smart forecasting for supply and demand is crucial. In particular, a localised approach to demand planning would help companies to better anticipate need and reduce the risk of shortages, especially in LMICs.

Every corner of the globe has been impacted by the pandemic, but limited access to Covid-19 jabs and disruptions to supplies of other vaccines disproportionately affect those living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), for whom the burden of disease is also higher. Of the 17 million children who didnt receive a single basic vaccine dose in the first year of the pandemic, most live in Africa and areas affected by conflict, and lack access to health and other welfare services.

The work to ensure equitable vaccine and medicine supplies to poorer regions has historically been left largely to charitable organisations and humanitarian groups and during the coronavirus crisis, as wealthy countries hoard coronavirus jab supplies and vaccine makers show no signs of considering patent waivers, this remains the case.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance was formed in 2000 to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the worlds poorest nations. Six years ago, the private-public alliance launched STEP (the Strategic Training Executive Programme) with global transport company UPS, as a means of supporting supply chains in the Global South beyond financial philanthropy. Through STEP, leading immunisation programmes in Gavi-assisted regions receive training and mentorship on managing efficient supply chains from experts in the industry.

In the wake of the pandemic, STEP 2.0 came into being. The programmes second iteration is jointly offered by Gavi, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the United States Agency for International Development, and coordinated by supply chain management organisation People that Deliver.

For Kevin Etter, who designed and developed STEP and now works on the project as a consultant, private-public partnerships like this are key to improving supply chains in LMICs and accelerating access to essential vaccines.

One of the key challenges associated with vaccine supply in LMICs is last-mile delivery, Etter says. The disruptions caused by Covid-19, such as widespread lockdowns, further complicated vaccine deliveries to these regions, and getting shipments back on track is one of STEPs priorities.

The next big thing to tackle is getting these routine immunisation programmes back to where they were before the pandemic, Etter says. Its going to be the job of supply chain advocates everywhere to make sure that this is not forgotten.

Warren at AMF says the pandemic has highlighted the value of industry partnerships and organisations leveraging their networks effectively to create a robust supply chain, and deliver large quantities of vaccine doses to countries in need. In her view, companies need to recognise their own limitations, and how much they can achieve alone when it comes to global vaccine distribution.

Ideas around helping other manufacturers with a strong tech transfer component to develop these new vaccines have been a really important learning from the pandemic.

Efforts to supply vaccines to poorer countries are all well and good, but the fact that 99% of Africas vaccines against all diseases are imported only highlights the fragility of supply chains to these regions. As long as LMICs are dependent on other countries or organisations for essential jabs, their access to them will always be precarious.

Oyewale Tomori is a professor of virology at Redeemers University in Nigeria, and a member of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative. He says Africas reliance on humanitarian groups and donations has brought the continents need for better domestic manufacturing capabilities to the fore.

Every initiative, every vaccine, is being dictated from outside; Africa has not been involved in finding solutions to its own problem, Tomori explains. Were dependent on all those things, so whether were going to survive is based on the shifting interests of the of the people who brought [the vaccines] in.

To ensure secure supplies of essential vaccines, African countries must build the ecosystems for life sciences innovation at home but this, Tomori says, requires government investment.

[In other countries] the government provided incentives, tax waivers and those kinds of things, he says. Thats why we have the Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech in India, because they have government support.

The talent is here, the human resources are here, but you need the right environment for them to function.

While LMICs ability to produce vaccines independently is crucial, industry players and organisations are working to assist and empower countries in the Global South to reach this goal.

Last summer, WHO and its COVAX partners established a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in Africa, to boost the development and industrial-scale production of mRNA shots on the continent. Along with the vaccine technology, the facility provides local manufacturers with technical training, production expertise, and any licenses needed to make the shots.

South Africa was the first country to receive a hub; South African biotech Afrigen oversees vaccine development, while the countrys partly state-owned pharma company Biovac provides manufacturing capabilities.

In February, a Covid-19 vaccine made by Afrigen through the tech transfer project became the first mRNA vaccine designed, developed and produced at lab scale in Africa. WHO has since announced that Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia will also be recipients of the technology transfer hubs, and Afrigen has agreed to begin training companies in Brazil and Argentina.

In the same month that Afrigen produced its first mRNA jabs, German vaccine maker BioNTech announced it would establish scalable, modular mRNA manufacturing facilities in Africa. The companys drug substance and formulation modules, known as BioNTainers, would allow African countries to produce mRNA-based vaccines in bulk and according to their needs.

The BioNTainers, expected to be first installed in Rwanda and Senegal, are not limited to Covid-19 vaccines; BioNTech says its investigational malaria and tuberculosis vaccines could also be manufactured at scale using this technology, following their successful development and regulatory approval.

From investing in domestic manufacturing to building reliable partnerships, the key lesson pharma must learn from the past two years is to be prepared. Rather than mobilising at the start of a crisis, the industry should have in place the pre-emptive structures and coordinated systems needed to cope with the demands of a global health emergency, should one occur.

Each time there is an epidemic or outbreak, there are a lot of lessons, Tomori says. But the question is, how long do we remember them?

In 2014, Nigeria had Ebola, and we were able to bring it under control in a very short time because a lot of structures were in place. As soon as we were declared Ebola-free, we dismantled all the structures we had so when Covid-19 came, we had to start from scratch.

Etter is optimistic about applying the lessons from the pandemic to routine immunisation programmes: Well be advocating for and working towards shoring up those supply chains, and shifting funding into building on the lessons that we learned about the gaps in them.

There are other disease areas that require attention which could benefit from some of the lessons learned over the past two years, Warren says. Specifically, companies need to focus on forecasting and making sure that last-mile distribution to LMICs is front-of-mind early in the process and, she emphasises, ensuring supply to poorer countries is not an afterthought.

In the context of Covid-19, weve seen some positive examples of companies thinking about this more strategically and earlier on, she says. And Im hopeful that the issues that have been raised about health equity will translate to other disease areas.

Aqueous and Powdered Cleaning Detergents for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Laboratory Informatics, Strategic Business & Technology Consulting, and Staffing Services

Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organisation

Read this article:

Two years of Covid-19: lessons the pandemic taught about delivering essential vaccines - Pharmaceutical Technology