Health Awareness
Value of Vaccines Q4 2021
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The UK’s vaccination programme is for life, not just for COVID
Vaccines have been thrust into the spotlight like never before during the pandemic. Suddenly, we are all talking about them – how they are created, how they are tested and when the rollout came, which one we had. The focus during this pandemic is on vaccines for one disease, COVID19, understandably so. But the UK’s...
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s Sponsored
Microneedle patch technology is helping deliver vaccines faster
A new ceramic skin patch is being used as a rapid response to control outbreak situations. It is also helping deliver vaccinations more easily and efficiently. Mike de Leeuw, CEO of MyLife Technologies, the pharmaceutical company which has created the ceramic skin patch for vaccine delivery says: “With only five grams of mRNA-vaccine, basic field...
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s Sponsored
Ensuring vaccine self-sufficiency for every global region
Inequitable vaccine distribution has exacerbated the COVID-19 crisis for the world’s poorest populations and prolonged the pandemic. Regional vaccine self-sufficiency will boost global health and economic security. Astonishingly effective vaccines against COVID-19 were created, tested and manufactured in an all-out push to stop the pandemic. That effort has fallen short in part because wealthy countries...
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s Sponsored
Achieving vaccine equity through robust data
Real-time temperature data monitoring of vaccine storage fridges is a critical step towards more effective immunisation programmes in low-and-middle- income countries. Reliable data is a key component in helping achieve greater vaccine equity. Central to that is access to and utilisation of real-time data to ensure vaccines are always stored at the correct temperatures so they...
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s Sponsored
Collaboration in the race to develop a COVID vaccine
Cohesive and coordinated partnerships across governments, industry and healthcare were a critical facet of the race to develop and deliver vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. As COVID-19 swept the globe, an urgent drive was launched to implement restrictions to slow the spread and join the race for a vaccine. Yet beyond ground-breaking research and science...
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Ramping up and sustaining the production of vaccines
The biopharmaceutical industry stands ready to partner in current and future efforts for pandemic preparedness. It is difficult to predict the nature of the next health threat. We do not know where, how or when it will hit. What we know is that playing catch is a lost battle. In a matter of months, vaccine...
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Learning lessons from the implementation of COVID-19 vaccinations
The COVID-19 vaccination programme provides important policy lessons about how to promote vaccine uptake and reduce inequalities in access. The COVID-19 vaccination programme – the first ever to vaccinate the entire adult population of the UK – may be the start of a new era of how we regard vaccines as a public health tool. However,...
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Vaccine trial participants support a vaccine for the world
Much of the discussion on ‘vaccine nationalism’ has been focussed on the vaccine supply ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, but the voices of public opinion have been more limited. To understand this better, we surveyed and interviewed participants in the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine trial. Trial participants favoured a COVID-19 vaccine allocated according to need worldwide. Despite national pride...
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Supporting vaccine rollout in developing countries
Equitable access to vaccines is key to stop the spread of COVID-19, yet just 4% of people in low-income countries are vaccinated. To save lives around the world, COVID-19 vaccines must be shared more equitably and become widely available in low- and middle-income countries. However, obtaining enough vaccines is only the first hurdle. To get...
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Lack of international action on global vaccination puts lives at risk
Lower income countries are in desperate need of access to life saving vaccines, but with cuts to the overseas aid budget, the hoarding of vaccines and broken promises, millions of lives are being threatened. The eradication of smallpox and near eradication of wild polio are testament to the efficacy of vaccines in protecting us from...
