[LongTimeLu]

Meanwhile from Sep 10 2020 in the forward planning dept ...

Are We Facing a Syringe Shortage?

http://labmate-online.com/news/laboratory-products/3/breaking-news/are-we-facing-a-syringe-shortage/53163

While there’s been plenty of talk surrounding a shortage of masks and PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts are warning countries could soon experience a shortage of syringes. The United States currently manufactures around 663 million syringes a year, though the federal government says an additional 850 million may be required is a vaccine is approved by winter 2020. If the nation can’t manufacture the additional syringes it could slow the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine and hinder the country’s attempts to contain the virus.

Experts advise countries to plan and stockpile

The race to find a vaccine has been fierce, with some experts predicting potential shots could receive emergency approval by the end of the year. While this would be a major breakthrough for public health, it leaves the United States with an incredibly short window to scale up syringe manufacturing and increase supplies. To meet demand, US manufacturers would need to boost production by 50%. Experts are encouraging other countries to do the same, advising governments to plan and stockpile.

And from Reuters ...

"Russian roulette" in Europe as needle shortages hamper COVID-19 shots

http://reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-vaccines-needles-idUSL8N2K02UO

PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Laurent Fignon, a geriatric doctor in the south of France, is having to improvise as he gives shots of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech to care home residents and health staff because supplies of the right needles and syringes are short.

Getting the full six doses from vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot – as allowed this month by the European Union's health regulator – requires needles that are both thin enough to minimize waste and long enough to deliver the jab, as required, into the recipient's shoulder muscle.

Fignon's hospital in the Mediterranean resort of Cannes was sent needles from the French public health authority that were too short, he said, forcing it to hunt locally for supplies. Other nearby hospitals got the right needles and were generous enough to share some.

"To us, it looks like Russian roulette," Fignon told Reuters. "You do not know what you will be getting."

Switzerland had placed orders for so-called “shot utensils” to deliver five doses per vial. With six now allowed, it is in talks with Pfizer to supply equipment needed to draw that number of doses, the Federal Office of Public Health said.

In Germany, vaccine distribution is handled by the central government but its 16 federal states are responsible for obtaining the needles and syringes needed to inject them - with mixed results.

German medical technology industry association BVMed said there were no production bottlenecks and that supplies of syringes and needles were adequate. But muddled orders were complicating distribution, it added, calling for better coordination.