In December 2020, Global Industrial, a distributor of industrial products surveyed healthcare facilities, pharmacies, doctors’ offices and other businesses in the U.S. and Canada. This was to hear directly about their concerns and readiness in relation to the various coronavirus vaccines that have gained regulatory approval.
The findings indicated that these multiple facilities were not ready to administer the vaccine. Despite warnings about the strong possibility of pandemics, readiness plans have not been developed over the past few years and, in the U.S., the for-profit healthcare system was not geared to meet future-state predictions of zoonotic infections.
The survey finds that less than 20 percent of organizations believe they are ready to administer the vaccine. Furthermore, more infrastructure is needed with 6 in 10 respondents say they need to plan to set up a new area to administer the vaccine. Perhaps more concerningly on the planning front, 32 percent of organizations have yet to start the planning process. Global Industrial has prepared a guide to assist healthcare bodies in meeting the challenges.
The biggest concern of respondents was waste management, in terms of disposing of infectious waste. A second concern raised was around continuing to maintain physical distancing (at the recommended 2 meters or more distance).
In related news, Healthline’s Medical Affairs Director, Dr. Lindsay Slowiczek, PharmD tells Digital Journal that the latest vaccine data from the British company AstraZeneca offers hope in the battle against the betacoronavirus: “This data is preliminary but highlights the importance of having multiple different vaccines in our arsenal if we hope to ultimately get ahead of a virus that changes over time.”
Slowiczek adds: “As we continue to bring new vaccines to market, we’ll be able to assess their comparative effectiveness in head-to-head trials. This will give us further confidence in the vaccines that show high rates of efficacy and tolerable safety profiles. It will also provide varying options for people who have specific medical concerns.”
