WHO has Improved Emergency Vaccine Response Time

Emergency response of vaccine stockpiles has improved over the past few years, with the majority of decisions being made within 2 or fewer business days and vaccines reaching their destination within 7 days of request.

These are the findings of a new research paper led by Alexandra Hill from the World Health Organization’s International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision. She presented her paper on Monday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases 2018.

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“WHO-supported stockpiles of therapeutics exist to provide a timely, coordinated response to complex, large-scale outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases at the global level,” Hill and colleagues wrote.

However, it is unclear whether emergency vaccine requests are being fulfilled in a timely and fair manner.

To investigate further, Hill and colleagues reviewed the governance and allocation mechanisms of meningitis, yellow fever, and cholera emergency vaccine stockpiles and analyzed 2016-2017 vaccine requests to the ICG.

From 2016 to 2017, the ICG received 54 vaccine requests—all of which were circulated for decision making within 1 business day.

Decisions were made in 2 or fewer business days for 95% of meningitis vaccine requests, 94% of yellow fever vaccine requests, and 88% of cholera vaccine requests. Vaccines reached their destination within 7 days for 31% of meningitis vaccine requests, 25% of yellow fever vaccine requests, and 10% cholera vaccine requests.

Overall, more than 50 million emergency vaccine doses were shipped to 16 countries for crisis response.

“Significant progress has been made in widening access to life-saving vaccines,” Dr Hill and colleagues concluded.

“The ICG mechanism has helped overcome the ‘first-come, first-served’ approach [that] led to inefficient and inequitable vaccine allocation in the past. Delays may have undermined the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns. Vaccine shortages underscore the continuing importance of the ICG mechanism in ensuring equity in access and allocation. Vaccination is only truly effective alongside comprehensive disease control strategies that include strengthening surveillance, outbreak response, and health care access at the country level.”

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Hill A, Richardson S, Nguyen T. Global emergency vaccine stockpiles: progress and persistent challenges. Paper presented at: CDC International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases; August 26-29, 2018; Atlanta, GA. https://custom.cvent.com/BA5667C9F30147A1BE057244E3AA6756/files/a394ab04ee224932a98e4f5561ab962b.pdf. Accessed August 27, 2018.