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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology
The impact of making vaccines thermostable in Niger's vaccine supply chain
Vaccine, Volume 30, No. 38, Year 2012
Notification
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Description
Objective: Determine the effects on the vaccine cold chain of making different types of World Health Organization (WHO) Expanded Program on Immunizations (EPI) vaccines thermostable. Methods: Utilizing a detailed computational, discrete-event simulation model of the Niger vaccine supply chain, we simulated the impact of making different combinations of the six current EPI vaccines thermostable. Findings: Making any EPI vaccine thermostable relieved existing supply chain bottlenecks (especially at the lowest levels), increased vaccine availability of all EPI vaccines, and decreased cold storage and transport capacity utilization. By far, the most substantial impact came from making the pentavalent vaccine thermostable, increasing its own vaccine availability from 87% to 97% and the vaccine availabilities of all other remaining non-thermostable EPI vaccines to over 93%. By contrast, making each of the other vaccines thermostable had considerably less effect on the remaining vaccines, failing to increase the vaccine availabilities of other vaccines to more than 89%. Making tetanus toxoid vaccine along with the pentavalent thermostable further increased the vaccine availability of all EPI vaccines by at least 1-2%. Conclusion: Our study shows the potential benefits of making any of Niger's EPI vaccines thermostable and therefore supports further development of thermostable vaccines. Eliminating the need for refrigerators and freezers should not necessarily be the only benefit and goal of vaccine thermostability. Rather, making even a single vaccine (or some subset of the vaccines) thermostable could free up significant cold storage space for other vaccines, and thereby help alleviate supply chain bottlenecks that occur throughout the world. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Lee, Bruce Y.
United States, Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Cakouros, Brigid E.
United States, Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Assi, Tina Marie
United States, Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Connor, Diana L.
United States, Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Welling, Joel S.
United States, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
Kone, Souleymane
Switzerland, Geneva
Organisation Mondiale de la Santé
Djibo, Ali
Niger
Niger Ministry of Health Moh
Wateska, Angela R.
United States, Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Pierre, Lionel
United States, Miami
Logistics for Health
Brown, Shawn T.
United States, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
United States, Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
Statistics
Citations: 87
Authors: 10
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.vaccine.2012.06.087
ISSN:
0264410X
e-ISSN:
18732518
Study Locations
Niger