Pfizer and Moderna on Tuesday announced they have solved coronavirus vaccine manufacturing challenges and promise a significant increase in supply in the coming weeks.
Dr. Julie Swann is the Department Head of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University and has studied such health care supply systems. She told KCBS Radio on Tuesday’s "Ask an Expert" that she believes vaccine makers will be able to increase their supplies, even though it may "take them a little while."
Currently, Pfizer is producing four to five million doses per week, with a goal of 13 million per week.
She pointed out that the "last mile distribution" - which involves distribution, appointments and actual inoculation - is a much more complex part of the supply chain than most seem to realize because it also involves bringing patients back for their second doses, as is required with both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines.
But not everyone’s "last mile" is the same.
"In rural areas, you do typically have to drive further than you do in urban areas," Dr. Swann said, adding that even in urban areas, there are also people with reduced mobility "either because they don’t have a car or because they may be homebound."
But she rests assured knowing that state departments are looking at their entire network of providers to see where people live to ensure there is coverage across an entire state.
The strain on this part of the process could be alleviated in the near future once Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine gets the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and doses arrive in states as early as next week.
In California, one in every 16 adults has already gotten both of their shots.
Dr. Swann said that country is neither ahead nor behind in distribution, as the complexities of a new vaccine rollout are usually constrained by supply. But she said the most important thing to do is to move forward "with everything we have" to prioritize lowering hospitalization and death rates.
As far as getting everyone in the country vaccinated by Memorial Day, she said there are two main challenges: supply and prioritizing who gets the vaccine, since age, medical history and occupation all play into the urgency of inoculation.
Then there is the uphill battle of selling the vaccine to people, which Dr. Swann said starts with education and assuring them that the vaccine is meant to prevent the most severe cases that typically result in hospitalization or death.
When she is eligible for the vaccine, she said she will "take the one that’s in front of me," adding that it is better to get protection than wait for the best one, since there may be booster shots in the future any way.
Overall, different states have different approaches to distributing the vaccine. California, thus far, has favored public health distribution over private. Dr. Swann praised the public health approach because health departments’ jobs are to "serve everybody in the population."
"The strategy to use depends on the strength of those partnerships, the resources they have available and also the market that they serve," she said.
What will likely happen in the coming weeks, provided increased vaccine production, is employers will partner with hospital networks or health departments to inoculate those working in certain industries.
