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Thinking Outside the Vial
MK • April 20, 2021
Thinking Outside the Vial.
Now that the gold rush for Vaccines has subsided. What could we have done better in one aspect of vaccine distribution....Wastage... Everyone wanted it and most did not know where to get it. Those entities that received the vaccines, after administering the required doses regulated by the authorities, were not sure what to do with the excess dosage. They were not sure if they even had enough amount for a patient. Since I was chemist in my previous life, I thought to myself, this cannot be that hard to solve.
Currently, there is no way to identify with good degree of certainty, if there is right amount of dose available for vaccinating the patient when the liquid reaches the bottom of the vial. The drug manufactures according to a report by FDC suggests they may have 40% more vaccine in each vial ( https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9255515/FDA-says-Moderna-vials-40-COVID-19-vaccine.html ). Another report came out recently that highlighted the waste due to short supply of syringes (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/syringe-size-and-supply-issues-continue-waste-covid-19-vaccine-doses-united-states). Stupendous effort has gone into building this vaccine supply chain, and the amount of work and orchestration for everything to work on time every time is mind boggling. How about we also take care of this wastage and thus, provide a holistic approach to the entire movement.
We should ask these questions. Is there a way the Manufacturers of these vaccine can assist in curbing the waste? In thinking through this problem, I realized that there really is a way to alleviate this challenge. What if the Manufacturers of the vial have a marking for reserve? Picture above is a representation of the idea. Why is this important? Simply put, when there is a level indication at any level, it provides an eyeball approximation of the dose that may be available.
What else can this simple marking do? Health care professionals, can immediately verify how many doses they have given. How many more can they give and who can they give it to (especially if they have a reserve/ waiting list of folks living nearby) ?. I truly believe a measuring system can be used to alleviate this overfill opportunity. The Drug companies are already happy that they have delivered a product to the market in record time, the healthcare professionals are happy that they do not have to waste any dose, the patient is happy that they didn't have to wait long for the vaccine.
I call myself a Misfit King (MK) 😊, not sure how to help, but wanting to help. The world is filled with brilliant people, it is time to come together to solve this challenge caused by an invisible enemy. Just trying to think outside the…
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