UNICEF to stockpile half a billion syringes by year-end to prepare for Covid vaccinations
United Nations: UNICEF said it will stockpile 520 million syringes in its warehouses, as part of a larger plan of one billion hypodermic needles by 2021, to guarantee initial supply and help ensure that syringes are available in countries before the COVID-19 vaccines arrives.
As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, UNICEF has begun laying the groundwork for the rapid, safe and efficient delivery of the eventual vaccine by purchasing and pre-positioning syringes and other necessary equipment, the UN agency said on Monday.
The agency said as soon as COVID-19 vaccines successfully emerge from trials and are licensed and recommended for use, the world will need as many syringes as doses of vaccine.
To begin preparations, this year, UNICEF will stockpile 520 million syringes in its warehouses, part of a larger plan of one billion syringes by 2021, to guarantee initial supply and help ensure that syringes arrive in countries before the COVID-19 vaccines, it said.
During 2021, assuming there are enough doses of COVID-19 vaccines, UNICEF anticipates delivering over one billion syringes to support COVID-19 vaccination efforts on top of the 620 million syringes that it will purchase for other vaccination programmes against other diseases such as measles, typhoid and more.
Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 will be one of the largest mass undertakings in human history, and we will need to move as quickly as the vaccines can be produced, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.
In order to move fast later, we must move fast now. By the end of the year, we will already have over half a billion syringes pre-positioned where they can be deployed quickly and cost effectively. That's enough syringes to wrap around the world one and a half times, Fore said.
In line with the longstanding collaboration between the two partners, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, will reimburse the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the procurement of the syringes and safety boxes, which shall then be used for the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility) and for other Gavi-funded immunisation programmes if necessary.
