Diversifying Vaccine Manufacturing Hubs for Equal Distribution

Inequality in the industry was evidenced this week in terms of gender and socioeconomic status. Women and people from a low socioeconomic background are struggling to meet their healthcare needs. While the industry is aware of the challenge, progress is still slow.

Here is the Week in Health!

NATIONAL

-Today, the world celebrates World Kidney Day. This is one of the deathliest diseases in Mexico, affecting mainly people living under poverty conditions. Find out the reality of this disease in the country in this article.

-Women’s health rights are still pending to be addressed. Health systems have included women health matters into public health agendas. However, there are issues still pending. In this article, MBN highlights women’s health issues in the country.

-Female leadership in the industry keeps increasing. MBN has gathered the views of female leaders from different industry fronts to understand their journey to high-level positions and how they are working toward equal growth and opportunities.

-AI in the sector has had exponential growth during the past year. How is Mexico integrating AI solutions into its healthcare agenda? In this article, experts on the subject explain how AI can generate better conditions for diagnosis, care personalization, patient engagement and a unified system to improve overall health conditions.

-Insurance companies have paid US$1 billion to cover COVID-19 expenses. Despite the country’s low insurance numbers, payments almost doubled AMIS’ expectations for 2020. MBN breaks down the costs and paints the possible future scenario for the hospital-insurance relationship.

-BIRMEX will begin the national production of Sinovac this week. The company received the components yesterday. This is the second COVID-19 vaccine to be manufactured in Mexico.

INTERNATIONAL

-The death rate from COVID-19 is 10 times higher in countries where the majority of the population is overweight, according to a report published by the World Obesity Forum.

-The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine still faces resistance in Europe. First, France and Germany expressed concerns about the vaccine working for seniors. Now, Denmark and Norway have suspended vaccination as a preventive measure to avoid clot formation. Both countries said they want to make sure that clot formation is not related to the vaccine but they want to carry out studies first.

-According to the UN, the COVID-19 pandemic kept 12 million women from contraceptives access and from maternity care and medicines. The lack of access to contraceptives resulted in 1.4 million unplanned pregnancies in 2020.

-The 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games will be celebrated this summer with no foreign audience. The decision was based on a survey carried out in Japan, where 77 percent of the citizens voted against foreign visitors for the games.

-China is already using the “vaccine passport” and COVID-19 tests for citizens wishing to travel abroad. Through a smart phone app, users will be able to enter their COVID-19 data to ensure a smooth travel.

-International pressure on the WTO to apply commercial rules and avoid a COVID-19 vaccination monopoly was exposed this week. The President of the Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, suggested pharmaceutical companies could diversify their manufacturing hubs to avoid disruption and to follow WTO rules. Some countries are against the proposal as they say it would be unfair due to the investment in R&D for the vaccines.

-Italy will begin manufacturing the Sputnik V vaccine in July. The country has been looking for different vaccine sources after AstraZeneca stopped shipments to comply with local contracts first. 

-EMA approved Johnson and Johnson’s one dose COVID-19 vaccine. With this approval, the EU has now access to Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson and Johnson developments.