COVID-19 vaccine delivery: an opportunity to set up systems for the future.

Rebecca Weintraub,David Bell,Dan Storisteanu,Natalie Garcon,Toby Norman,Stanley Plotkin,Eliah Aronoff-Spencer,Margaret Liu,Jerome Kim

doi:10.12688/gatesopenres.13210.1

Abstract

The race to develop safe and effective SARS-COV-2 vaccines has moved with unprecedented speed. There are now multiple promising candidates seeking emergency use authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration and a host of candidates positioned for approval worldwide. Attention has now turned to allocation, distribution and verification of these vaccines, yet this focus exposes that the underlying infrastructure for global delivery and monitoring is threadbare and unevenly distributed. This presents both a barrier and an opportunity to deploy sustainable infrastructure. Major global stakeholders must convene quickly, collaborate, and collectively invest in global standards, legal models, common vocabularies and interoperable biometric-supported digital health technologies. As the COVID-19 vaccine effort scales, governments, private sector and NGOs have the chance to place lasting resources needed for equitable and effective delivery that can pay dividends into the future.

Highlights

The race to develop safe and effective SARS-COV-2 vaccines has moved with unprecedented speed
As we get closer and closer to an effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, policymakers, academics, and scientists around the globe are turning their attention to yet another fundamental challenge - how will governments monitor and verify vaccine delivery
Glaring data gaps exist at numerous levels of global identity and health information exchange

Summary

Introduction

The race to develop safe and effective SARS-COV-2 vaccines has moved with unprecedented speed. As we get closer and closer to an effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, policymakers, academics, and scientists around the globe are turning their attention to yet another fundamental challenge - how will governments monitor and verify vaccine delivery. An effective vaccination program will falter if we don’t invest in the information infrastructure for vaccine delivery in developed and low and middle-income countries alike. Glaring data gaps exist at numerous levels of global identity and health information exchange.

Results

Conclusion