Beating back COVID right now comes down to balancing supply and demand.
With hopes pinned to vaccines, demand has far outstripped the supply of doses.
But, as an increasing number of vaccine vials are shipped in coming weeks, the concern about shortages may well shift to human capital: the vaccinators themselves. We need to mobilize more medical units to get more shots in people s arms, Jeff Zients, coordinator of President Joe Biden s COVID-19 task force, said at a briefing earlier this month.
Already, there have been scattered reports that vaccinators are in short supply in some areas. Absolutely, we do need more, said Tom Kraus, vice president of government relations for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, whose members work in hospitals, clinics and large physician practices.
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In a new American Society of Health-system Pharmacists (ASHP) report, 92% of its 2021 Pharmacy Forecast panelists say global issues like trade restrictions, pandemics like COVID-19, or climate change will increase the potential for more drug shortages, and almost 90% say a major technology failure or breach could cause widespread disruptions in the delivery of US healthcare supplies.
To help mitigate these issues, 90% of panelists also predicted that at least 75% of health systems will develop allocation guidelines. In the report, the ASHP notes a 36.6% increase in ongoing drug shortages from 2017 to 2020, with 276 shortages occurring in 2020.
Uncertainty in global supply chains
Pharmacy Automation Devices Market Size Worth $9.5 Billion By 2028: Grand View Research, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ The global pharmacy automation devices market size is expected to reach
USD 9.5 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is expected to expand at a
CAGR of 9.3% from 2021 to 2028. The increasing burden of chronic diseases and the growing geriatric population are leading to an increase in the number of prescriptions. This, in turn, is resulting in a rise in the number of medication errors. For instance, 237.4 million medication errors occurred in England in 2018, according to the article published in The Pharmaceutical Journal. This is driving the demand for pharmacy automation devices. Moreover, an increase in initiatives by various organizations, such as the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, to reduce medication errors is positively impacting the market growth.