Bernard Arulanandam is an immunologist for the South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and vice president for research, economic development, and knowledge enterprise at UTSA.
JANUARY 29, 2021 — Editor’s note: This op-ed by Bernard Arulanandam originally appeared in the San Antonio Express-News.
As various COVID-19 vaccines roll off the manufacturing line, the daunting logistics of mass distribution and immunization represent an unprecedented challenge.
With a global population of just less than 8 billion people and the estimated number needed to reach herd immunity between 60 and 70 percent of the population, we will need 5.6 billion vaccine doses. Given that treatment regimens will require a second dose, this will approach 11.2 billion doses globally. To put this in perspective, this is equivalent to 34 times the U.S. population.
This staggering requirement exposes vulnerabilities on several fronts, including manufacturing, supply chain, personnel, deployment and implementation. These weaknesses are further amplified in under-resourced and poorer countries that lack basic infrastructure.
Vaccines are inherently complex to manufacture and more so for highly sophisticated products such as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that utilize mRNA technology. These modern products incorporate specialized technological innovations for production and require precursor materials from a few sources abroad that inherently produce a narrow supply chain.
Additional constraints include logistics and mapping of distribution sites, tackling cold chain requirements during delivery and administration, and systematically monitoring the delivery and dispensation of additional doses. Given that COVID-19 vaccines are in emergency-use authorization and being shipped to countries with various regulatory requirements, tracking vaccine safety and efficacy across different populations becomes paramount. This also requires constructing a unified communication channel that transcends borders and facilitates trust across racial and ethnic lines.
This pandemic has refocused the needs to diversify geographically, secure the supply chain nationally and globally, and reduce the dependence on sole countries such as China. There is a need to develop a sustained strategy with a funding source to mature innovative technologies and solutions that will bring vaccines and biologics to market faster. Finally, learning from past successes in global vaccine and treatment delivery networks akin to the GAVI vaccine alliance and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will provide a framework to achieve the desired vaccine coverage.
Marshaling this global effort will require genuine and transparent leadership from different world bodies with a renewed urgency for cooperation. The need to further fuel alliances across public-private partnerships is evident to end this pandemic and be much more prepared for the next.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
This spring UTSA is hosting a 30-second film festival on TikTok! Your mission? Create a 30-second video that highlights how you relax with Adobe Creative Cloud. This is your chance to take a break from the world around you make something fun. The top three videos will receive prizes that will help you on your creative journey and the top ten winners will receive free Adobe swag!
Virtual EventA lecture series brought to you by Loma de Vida Spa & Wellness and UTSA College for Health, Community and Policy. Dr. Sara Oswalt is the chair of & professor in the Department of Public Health at UTSA. She is also a certified sexuality educator through the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, & Therapists.
Virtual EventAs part of the annual Campus Race to Zero Waste, the Office of Facilities will provide sensitive document shredding services for our UTSA community. You can bring work-related or personal documents. All we ask is for you to shred away to help recycle!
Parking Lot UTSA Student Union and Ximenes Avenue GaradeIn many courses, faculty broach relevant but difficult topics surrounding race, ethnicity, civil rights, and much more with sensitivity and caring—-but this may be especially difficult in an online classroom. In this session, Dr. Shelley Howell will discuss how faculty can create an inclusive classroom environment digitally to allow for conducive conversations for all parties.
Virtual EventGreat discussions continue this spring with Mary McNaughton-Cassill, Professor of Psychology and Donna Edmondson, University Ombuds. They are providing five 30-minute interactive webinars. Topics include bridge building, stigmas, team building, staying engaged at work and our shared experiences.
Virtual EventThe Black Student Union of UTSA presents a panel discussion on Black women in history and the impact of prominent Black women in the Roadrunner Community.
Virtual EventJoin this workshop to explore how this instructor designed and delivered an exemplary course with an innovative design and a student-centered approach. This workshop is focused on the use of virtual labs and interactive content using interactive tools such as PlayPosit and Softchalk for an enhanced learning experience in large classes (more than 400 students).
Virtual EventThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.