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Insights and analysis on international health affairs from Lenias
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Insights and analysis on international health affairs from Lenias
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over plan and over prepare to mitigate SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES during COVID-19 VACCINation campaign5/10/2020 To manage the many challenges of optimally delivering the first vaccine, policymakers should err on the side of caution by over-preparing and over planning to minimize potential disruptions. A Covid-19 vaccine is not yet licensed. However, all indications from experts suggest that the licensing of one of the three leading Covid-19 vaccine candidates is imminent. It is expected that by the end of 2020 or at the latest, by early 2021, an approved licensed vaccine would be available for mass production and mass vaccination. Delivering the first vaccine to make it to market to the population will face many challenges that policymakers and leaders in industry and international organisations should plan for in order to mitigate the risks and deploy the vaccine optimally and effectively.
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Therefore, preparations for the second wave should equally emphasise preparedness and maintain the public health measures that have been so successful at containing viral community spread during the first wave. All countries benefit from their WHO membership
Commenting on the planned US withdrawal from WHO in a recent Interview with Time on Thursday 24 September, the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that US “Withdrawing from WHO actually hurts the US, because being part of WHO is not just to help those who need support. The US also benefits from being a member of WHO.” The WHO Chief said that one of the most visible impacts of US withdrawal is how weak global solidarity has become without US leadership. Without US leadership, the "major global powers are not working together.” Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, its global toll is nearly a million lives lost and an estimated 29 million confirmed cases. Many health systems around the world have collapsed under the unprecedented weight of Covid-19 disease burden. Every nations is desperate to end the Covid-19 pandemic. A safe, effective and affordable vaccine provides the most practical path to bringing Covid-19 under control. However the power and potential of vaccines is best realized when scientists and politicians approach the process of getting to a licensed, safe and effective vaccine in a way that strengthens public trust so that individuals would be willing to be vaccinated. Appearances of compromises on medical safety due to regulators being under undue pressure to speed up vaccine approval increases the perception of risk of vaccination to individuals. For example, the US and the Russian Federation have announced their plans to initiate mass vaccination before phase III clinical trials are completed. The WHO has expressed concerns with these plans. The WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan announced that WHO will not support mass deployment of any vaccine before the WHO itself, governments and national regulators of target markets have full confidence that a vaccine meets the minimum standards of safety and efficacy.
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