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COVID vax manufacturing scale up to 11.2B in a year, but feat overshadowed by uneven distribution

In just one year, the production of Covid-19 vaccines scaled up from zero to 11.2 billion doses, said three key associations representing vaccine-makers including one representing Big Pharma, even as they acknowledged that the historic manufacturing feat had been overshadowed by uneven vaccine distribution.

“Supplies have been distributed unevenly, but countries have started to release surplus doses so that they can be shared,” said the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ Network (DCVMN), and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

“The manufacturing scale up of COVID-19 vaccines that had been developed in record time required building new production lines able to consistently produce millions of doses to the highest quality standards, managing global supply chains for hundreds of components and ingredients, as well as forging over 300 partnerships around the world to increase manufacturing output. Of these deals, 229 include various forms of voluntary collaboration that rely on technology transfer, sharing of know-how about the processes and the technologies used to make the vaccines, as well as training specialist personnel to ensure quality standards,”the note said.

Vaccine deployment
Citing data from Airfinity, they said, by end-March 2022, G7 and EU countries are projected to have 1.4 billion surplus vaccines, even when administering boosters. Over 55 per cent of the world population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, they added.

“Dose-sharing is gaining momentum to reach those who have not yet been vaccinated, and COVAX is ramping up fast to ensure doses are distributed equitably around the world. Today, more than 700 million doses have been shipped by COVAX to 144 countries; and nearly 1 billion doses ordered,”the note said.

However, it added, that flexible coordination and planning was needed to get the vaccines to those who needed it. To improve vaccine deployment, they called for greater political prioritization, funding, infrastructure and human resources. This included upscaling cold chain capabilities from airfields to the last mile, the note said, calling for better distribution in 2022. The Hindu BusinessLine

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