“I just got to the point where I felt that instead of trying to figure out who to trust, I would do wise things and don’t trust anyone.”
The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that by 2022, there may be a shortage of up to 2 billion syringes, which may hinder global vaccine work because production has not increased.
The shortage is the result of the Covid-19 vaccine campaign, and billions of syringes are used globally than normal, severely weakening global supply.
Lisa Hedman, WHO’s senior consultant for access to medicines and health products, said that as the supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses increases, the supply of syringes needs to keep up.
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“What we are really worried about is that we may have a shortage of immunization syringes, which in turn will cause serious problems, such as slowing down immunization efforts,” she told reporters.
“Depending on the vaccination situation, the deficit may be between 1 billion and 2 billion.”
According to AFP statistics, more than 7.25 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been vaccinated globally.
Hedman said that a serious consequence of the shortage may be the delay of routine vaccination. If a generation of young people miss the normal childhood vaccination, this may have an impact on public health in the “next years”.
Hedman said that any restrictions on the supply of syringes will only be exacerbated by export restrictions and transportation issues.
She urged countries to plan in advance the demand for syringes to avoid hoarding and panic buying.
