UNICEF Stockpiles Syringes in Preparation for COVID-19 Vaccine

By Dana Cruz Oct 20 2020, 04:38 AM EDT

Coronavirus Pandemic Overwhelms Brazilian City Of Manaus — A mother holds her daughter while a nurse wearing a protective mask and shield applies her a flu vaccination at the riverside community of Belavista do Jaraqui, in Negro river, about one hour by boat from Manaus, on May 29, 2020 in Brazil. Andre Coelho/Getty Images

UNICEF, the United Nations' children's agency, announced Monday that it is stockpiling hundreds of millions of syringes as part of their preparation for a COVID-19 vaccine.

In a press release, UNICEF said it wants to ensure that global supply for syringes will be enough once a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine has been approved.

The initial plan is to stockpile about half a billion syringes in UNICEF warehouses. It will be part of the larger plan to have a billion syringes ready by 2021, the earliest projected date for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Other than syringes, UNICEF is also looking to buy five million safety boxes for safe disposal of syringes and needles, reported The Hill.

UNICEF said the syringes they'll purchase would be "bundled" with safety boxes to ensure there are enough safety boxes for all the syringes they will buy. Every safety box has a capacity of 100 syringes.

UNICEF Lays Groundwork for Vaccines

As reported by the New York Times, the agency is not waiting for a vaccine to be approved to work on the first steps to distribution.

As the world's largest single buyer of vaccines, UNICEF is already laying the groundwork for when the time comes.

They want to ensure rapid and safe delivery by buying all equipment that will be needed by the countries it operates in.

"Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 will be one of the largest mass undertakings in human history," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

Fore said their agency would need to vote quickly as the vaccines are produced, and they found that the best way to do this was to "move fast now."

By the end of the year, UNICEF will already have over half a billion syringes, said Fore.

She noted that with that many syringes, there would be enough to "wrap around the world one and a half times." The nonprofit Gavi Vaccine Alliance will reimburse UNICEF for the effort.

The syringes will be used for Gavi's COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility) and its immunization programs.

COVAX aims to place orders for different promising vaccine candidates, with the aim of successful distribution.

The agency wants to cover more than 180 countries that will equitably receive vaccines. The U.S. has publicly rejected being a part of this project.

UNICEF noted that it is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to serve 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries.

Normally, UNICEF champions childhood immunization for low-income countries. But they refocused their efforts on broader vaccination against COVID-19.

Hurdle in COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

One big hurdle in distributing vaccines in many developing counties is temperature. Even though there is no vaccine for the coronavirus yet, most vaccines need to be constantly refrigerated in sterile containers.

For example, one of the leading vaccine candidates developed by Pfizer needs to be in ultra-cold storage. Without cold storage units for vaccines, it's highly likely that developing countries will be the last to emerge from the pandemic.

So far, UNICEF said it is in the process of upgrading some chain equipment across various health facilities, mostly in Africa.