ProcureNet, a global supplier of pharmaceutical materials and vaccines consumables, signed an MOU aiming to help vaccinate 2 billion people next year through its vaccination supply network which will include Anhui Tiankang Medical, a hi-tech medical instrument company which focuses on the research, development and manufacturing of surgical medical devices.
The work ProcureNet and Tiankang Medical aim to complete will be a much-needed stress relief for hundreds of governments currently having syringe supply problems during the worldwide vaccine rollout. ProcureNet will be joining the fight like many other organizations, such as The Gates Foundation and WHO in aiding the urgent demand for Syringes, with its sights set on aiding 2 billion vaccinations.
The World Health Organisation & UNICEF issued warnings last week that a lack of syringes would “paralyze progress” on vaccinations in low-to middle-income countries (LMIC), putting the gap at 2.2 billion syringes. Vaccine syringe manufacturers have privately forecasted collective production increases for 2022 at nearly 5.5 billion annually.
Edward Kelley, the former director of integrated health services for the World Health Organization, told the Washington Post, ”If we want to end the pandemic, we’ll need to fix the global syringe shortage first.” Kelly suggested that to ensure the widespread vaccination for COVID-19, it would require a staggering 14 billion injections. However, this didn’t include the need to treat the Delta variant and evolving decisions on booster shots, therefore, suggesting the number will likely grow to more than 19 billion injections before the end of 2022. Current industry estimates 40 to 50 billion medical syringes are manufactured in a typical (non-pandemic) year globally. Only around 10% of these syringes are the smaller, specialized versions that are designed for vaccinations. As the Washington Post wrote “as good as this response might be, it is still not enough. Not even close.”
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