Impact of Introducing the Pneumococcal and Rotavirus Vaccines Into the Routine Immunization Program in Niger.

• Autores: Bruce Y. Lee, Tina-Marie Assi, Jayant Rajgopal, Bryan A. Norman, Sheng-I Chen, Shawn T. Brown, Rachel B. Slayton, Souleymane Kone, Hailu Kenea, Joel Welling, Diana L. Connor, Angela R. Wateska, Anirban Jana, Ann E. Wiringa, Willem Gijsbert van Panhuis, Donald S. Burke
• Localización: American journal of public health, ISSN 0090-0036, Vol. 102, Nº. 2, 2012, págs. 269-276
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]