COVID-19 vaccine wastage in Canada, a reason for concern?

Does delivery matter? Examining pandemic vaccination preferences across time and countries using a discrete choice experiment

INTRODUCTION

After a pandemic outbreak, designing and implementing an effective vaccine supply chain is key. The last-mile vaccine delivery (LMVD) - the last stage of the vaccine supply chain - is of particular importance. LMVD design choices, such as the delivery mode (e.g., mobile team or PODs) and the number and locations of PODs, affect "operational attributes" like travel time and waiting time. This paper aims to understand how operational attributes of LMVD systems impact vaccination preferences across different priority groups, pandemic stages, and countries.

METHODS

Adults in The Netherlands (N=473 in May 2021 and N=385 in January 2023), Italy (N=302 in March 2023), and Poland (N=303 in March 2023) completed an online discrete-choice experiment. Participants chose between two hypothetical LMVD systems (and opt-out) with five attributes: appointment flexibility, appointment delay, in-facility waiting time, travel time, and familiarity with personnel. Mixed logit models were used to estimate coefficients, based on which relative importance (RI) and vaccine uptake percentages were calculated.

RESULTS

Operational attributes have a significant impact on estimated uptake. Travel time was the most important attribute in all four studies. Appointment delay and in-facility waiting consistently ranked second or third. The impact of the choice of an LMVD system on uptake varies over time and by country. In The Netherlands, it was strong in 2023 (23.4%) but moderate in 2021 (12.6%). Similarly, it was strong in Italy 2023 (21.8%) and moderate in Poland 2023 (11.4%). The estimated impact also varied by priority group, and was minor (6.1%) for the elderly with poor health in The Netherlands 2021 study.

CONCLUSION

Design choices for the LMVD system significantly impact vaccination preferences. Adapting these systems to different countries, time periods, and population groups is key for their effectiveness.

Explaining the challenges of resources management and its underlying factors in COVID-19 era in Iran: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Identifying factors affecting health costs can contribute to formulating the best policies for controlling and managing health costs. To this end, the present study aimed to analyze resource wastage and identify the factors underlying it in COVID-19 management in Iran's health sector.

METHOD

This qualitative content analysis study was conducted in Iran's health sector. The participants were 23 senior, middle, and operational managers in the health sector. The data were collected through semistructured interviews with the managers. The participants were selected using purposive, quota, and snowball sampling techniques. The interviews continued until the data were saturated. The collected data were analyzed using MAXQDA software (version 10).

RESULTS

Following the data analysis, the factors affecting the wastage of health resources were divided into 4 themes and 13 main themes. Vaccines, diagnostic kits, medicines, and human resources were the main factors underlying resource wastage. The identified main themes were open and unused vials, nonuse of distributed vaccines and their expiration, excess supply and decreased demand for vaccines, expiration of diagnostic and laboratory kits and their quantitative and qualitative defects, and the large number of tests. Inefficiency and the expiration of COVID-19 drugs, poor drug supply and consumption chain management, inaccuracy in inventory control and expiration dates, disorganization and inconsistency in the distribution of healthcare staff, low productivity of the staff, and failure to match the staff's skills with assigned tasks in selected centers were identified as the most important causes of resource wastage.

CONCLUSION

Given the limited health funds and the increased healthcare costs, effective preparation and planning and making reasonable decisions for unexpected events can minimize unnecessary costs and resource wastage, which requires some revisions in attitudes toward COVID-19 management in the healthcare sector.

Ethical Challenges Involved in COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for Children: A Systematic Review

The new COVID-19 pandemic has affected day-to-day life, creating various ethical dilemmas. COVID-19 vaccination is seen as an effective way to halt the pandemic. Ethical challenges can arise when the vaccines are mandated for all ages, but more so when mandated for children. This systematic review discusses the pros and cons of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for children. The primary objective of this study is to summarize exclusively the various ethical conflicts, impacts, and requirements that arise as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate laws on children. The secondary objective is to analyze the reasons for parents refusing to allow their children to be given the COVID-19 vaccine sand the effective strategies to increase vaccine uptake among children. The study involved a systematic review, identification of relevant literature and reviews following the PRISMA-ScR recommendations. The keywords 'COVID-19 vaccine mandates on children' were used to mine the literature from PubMed and WHO COVID-19 Research Database. Limitations placed on the original searches were: English language, humans, ethics, and children. Out of 529 studies, only 13 satisfied the selection criteria. The sample included studies with a wide, diverse range of methods, settings, research, authors, and journals. COVID-19 vaccine mandates on children need to be scrutinized. Implementing the COVID-19 vaccination drive in a scientific way is acceptable. As children are the fastest-growing population and have the highest life expectancy, it is important to take into account that the vaccines do not disturb their growth and development.