If the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine gets regulatory approval by Christmas, the next task would be for the governments on how quickly they can distribute the vaccine, so that humankind can get some relief from the covid confinement. The U.K. has already fixed deals to get early access to the vaccines, but its approach to prioritization and distribution needs careful thought.
The U.K.’s National Vaccine Taskforce has ordered for 340 million vaccine doses among six different vaccine candidates. Pfizer NSE 2.84 %’s vaccine is one of them and Britain should be an early recipient, receiving a total of 40 million doses of the vaccine. Estimation says 20 million Britishers can be vaccinated for double-dose maybe by Christmas.
To get better immunisation results, every country requires a solid rationing strategy.
National Institute for Healthcare Excellence (NICE) in the UK evaluates medicines and treatments and plans protocols to determine who gets what.
Countries have a different approach on who should first get the vaccination. The UK prioritizes elderly first and people working in care homes before narrowing down the age brackets. Prioritizing the most unprotected members of society is a common approach. Germany’s strategy is to vaccinate the risk groups first, along with doctors and nurses. An estimated 40% of the population to get first dibs on a vaccine under the German plan.
Khalifa University academics model suggests that priority should be given to groups whose in-person daily interactions are high because that would expand the vaccine’s effectiveness as it can reduce the infections in both among the vaccinated group and those they come into contact with. According to their model, if properly prioritized, total fatalities can decrease by up to 70%.
To get immunity hit for each vaccine dose, those groups that are in the highest number of interactions should be the first target group to get the vaccination. Health-care workers, younger workers, people in the hospitality sector and children should be high priority list. Though children are least affected by the disease, they can have numerous daily interactions, after schools reopen.
Younger populations are less likely to suffer severely from the flu but more prone to pass it on to those vulnerable and vaccination of just elderly doesn’t contribute to the decline of deaths from flu. Following this logic, several countries like Finland, Latvia, Slovakia and the U.K. have encouraged flu vaccinations of children to prevent wider transmission of infection.
To draw the efficiency and safety of a vaccine from only among the elderly group is troublesome because it includes only a small share of the population. Thus, an earlier and quicker vaccination of the younger population and even offering financial incentives for vaccination would help to gather more data on the vaccine while it might also decrease the spread of the virus.
The success of an early vaccination program with limited supply depends on how efficiently the available doses can be deployed. Germany is establishing 60 vaccination centres nationwide and the Bundeswehr (Germany’s military) is involved in the logistics. Medical workers will be instructed on how to store the vaccine and administer it properly, while the country is installing a database to keep a track of which population groups have been vaccinated, and which batch needs a broader vaccination program.
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The UK is planning to organise mass vaccination localities, but the vaccine would also be distributed through doctors offices and hospitals. Having many distribution points will make the vaccine easily accessible but there are risks like doses can get corrupted if storage is not handled properly or that those who are not eligible will receive it and theft is also a concern.
The supply restraints should become easy from next year as Pfizer hopes to make its vaccine available in a more transportable powder form. It is expected that by the end of 2021, several vaccines that are easier to store should also become accessible. More number of approved vaccines can make vaccination programs more extensive also prioritization and distribution is the key to secure the population.