A Covid-19 vaccine could cause significant supply chain complications if it requires two injections, experts from the US are warning.
An article recently published by CNN has highlighted the many issues that a vaccine against the deadly virus could cause if it requires two doses to become immunised.
One of the problems is the logistical side of distributing the vaccine around the globe.
This means doubling the test kits and protective gear on top of the double-doses of the vaccine that will be sent out across the entire world.
The other problem is getting people to be vaccinated twice.
“There is no question that this is going to be the most complicated, largest vaccination programme in human history, and that’s going to take a level of effort, a level of sophistication, that we’ve never tried before,’ Dr Kelly More a professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee told CNN.
Having two does of a vaccine to immunise an individual against a virus isn’t unusal, with vaccines for chickenpox and Hepatitis A requiring two doses.
In the US alone 660 million doses of the vaccine would need to be distributed once an effective vaccine had been discovered.
“We’re looking at double shots. That’s twice the amount,” Professor Nada Sanders at Northeastern University, Massachusetts told CNN.
“Doubling is a huge supply chain issue.
“You have to double everything in the supply chain," Prof Sanders said.
"The syringes, can they double up? Can the vials double up? Can the stoppers double up? Can the needles double up? Everybody has to double up, and then they all have to get it in time at the various entities along the supply chain."
Prof Sanders says she worries about the distribution of the vaccine with many countries like the United States experiencing delays in testing and receiving enough personal protective equipment (PPE).
"We're talking about such exactness, and we couldn't get PPE right, so I'm concerned," Prof Sanders said.
"There are many weaknesses across this supply chain - many. If we don't address this now, the probability of failure is very high."
Dr Nelson Michael, the director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, says getting individuals to return for a second vaccine could prove to be an issue.
Many people will have to take the time off work twice to get the vaccine and will experience side-effects of the vaccine twice.
"These are the sorts of things that I think we need to think about, to make sure that we can incentivise people to come back to make it as easy as possible for them to adhere to a two shot regimen," he says.
"I think if you give the public health community that remit, they will find a way.
"But the task will be very difficult."
Currently in the US two companies that are trialling possible Covid-19 vaccines are injecting their volunteers with two doses of the trial vaccine. These range from 21 days to 28 days between each dose.
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