摘要
Objectives. We investigated whether introducing the rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines, which are greatly needed in West Africa, would overwhelm existing supply chains (i.e., the series of steps required to get a vaccine from the manufacturers to the target population) in Niger. Methods. As part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Vaccine Modeling Initiative, we developed a computational model to determine the impact of introducing these new vaccines to Niger's Expanded Program on Immunization vaccine supply chain. Results. Introducing either the rotavirus vaccine or the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine could overwhelm available storage and transport refrigerator space, creating bottlenecks that would prevent the flow of vaccines down to the clinics. As a result, the availability of all World Health Organization Expanded Program on Immunization vaccines to patients might decrease from an average of 69% to 28.2% (range=10%-51%). Addition of refrigerator and transport capacity could alleviate this bottleneck. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the effects on the vaccine supply chain should be considered when introducing a new vaccine and that computational models can help assess evolving needs and prevent problems with vaccine delivery.
原文 | English |
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頁(從 - 到) | 269-276 |
頁數 | 8 |
期刊 | American Journal of Public Health |
卷 | 102 |
發行號 | 2 |
DOIs | |
出版狀態 | Published - 2月 2012 |