A fool-proof supply chain for Covid vaccine

The Covid vaccine discovery is happening at a fast pace around. While two clinical trials are underway, about 50 vaccine candidates are in clinical evaluation. 

Herd immunity is what can hold the virus in control. Herd immunity should cut across economic cleavages in society. The policy of the highest bidder deciding the market price and distribution strategy along with the appropriate effective supply chains cannot work for this virus. The geographical spread of the vaccine administration covering the major hotspots across the world only can ensure herd immunity, bypassing all economic wellbeing and literacy considerations.

What are the precautions we need to take to ensure the covid vaccine once released does not get mired in corruption and favouitism and instead gets through to the needed people in the society who can ensure a fast and safe herd immunity.

Vaccinating the people closely associated with the virus : The different groups of people who need to be first vaccinated with the covid vaccine in order are

1. patients

2. healthcare professionals across the world

3. law and order maintaining personnel, police forces and paramilitary

4. workers from the government machinery who are holding the thread to arranging an upkeep of the quarantine facilities and containment policies

5. social service workers arranging for transportation, stay, food etc for the patients and their dependents

6. the vehicle personnel including drivers and maintenance personnel.

Once these patients and service personnel are vaccinated, the rest of the public can be vaccinated keeping in mind their geographical spread irrespective of financial and social status.

Financing of the vaccine for the different strata of population across the different countries of the world can be taken up by the global financing bodies like the United Nations, OECD etc.. Gavi, (click here for the HBR article) the vaccine alliance of the world has been functioning since 2000 in almost 73 poor countries supporting 496 vaccine programmes and helping vaccinate half of the world's children. This programme has eventually helped all ages of people to be vaccinated. A programme on similar lines would be what the billionaires or rich groupings like the OECD of the world need to focus in the coming months and years.

Personal Identification : The global process of inoculation would necessitate a form of personal identification system for the people inoculated. This would ensue the effective and safe administration of vaccine. Some proposals could look at having bio-markers like a coloured permanent strip or a semiconductor chip to be ingrained under the forehand skin of the patient could ensure a fool proof method of identification of inoculated individuals. Incorporating blockchains to ensure a safe and integral fool-proof system of vaccine inoculation could even be implemented. 

Monitoring the process : Using AI and Data analytics, the efficacy of the inoculation programme could be monitored.

Cold Supply Chain : ensuring the availability of refrigerators and other appliances, mainly solar powered to ensure a cold supply chain from manufacturing, bottling to transportation and storage at the destination is going to be the next big challenge of international bodies and counties of the world.

Global coordination : global coordination between international bodies and countries of the world for the first one year after introduction of the vaccine would be very critical to the success of the inoculation programme.

These steps would not only help improve the output from the progamme, but also ensure we have a closely monitored and efficiently managed innoculation programme to manage the viruses that are going to attack humanity in the future, given the change in environment and global temperature and climate which we humans have burdened on this planet through our extravagant and careless life style.   

George..