在参议院帮助委员会听证会上评估的美国疫苗制造能力

在参议院健康，教育，劳工和养老金委员会hearingon Tuesday, Members of Congress and witnesses evaluated whether the U.S. will be able to manufacture enough COVID-19 vaccines to protect the population, as well as be able to distribute them equitably. Vaccine manufacturers are racing to increase their capacity to produce what will likely be billions of doses, but it might takemonths to years从批准疫苗以生产足够剂量以接种疫苗的人数（大约）世界人口的70％) to achieve herd immunity.

Infrastructure for producing vaccines

Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R, TN) asked witnesses for recommendations on what type of manufacturing capacity the federal government should have on hand to produce and distribute doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Former Governor of Utah Michael Leavitt解释了（1:03:30）尽管存在基础设施以扩大美国疫苗制造能力，但在建造后没有有效维护工厂。此外，维护此类制造设施费用大量的钱，在大流行之前，制药公司不愿花很多钱花在一种特定于一种疫苗的设施上，而这种疫苗最终可能无法获得批准或出售。

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Executive Vice President of Merck & Co.,added（1:05:00）大多数制造大量疫苗的制药公司几乎可以产生其他剂量的其他疫苗，例如流感疫苗。Moderna的首席执行官斯蒂芬·班克尔（Stephane Bancel）在5月12日接受CNBC的访谈中，负责监督领先的实验性Covid-19疫苗工作之一。他stated，“显然，每个[疫苗]计划的作用确实很低，但是我真的希望我们有三架，四个，五种疫苗，因为没有制造商可以为地球做足够的剂量。”考虑到这一点，制药公司估计的他们在2019 - 2020年流感季节为美国提供了162至1.69亿剂的流感疫苗。保护美国人口免受covid-19的侵害，大约2.3亿美国人would have to be vaccinated. This also does not account for the possibility that each person may need multiple doses to be fully vaccinated or the fact that many manufacturers in the U.S. supply vaccines to other countries.

Besides overall capacity, one of the largest challenges is that the制造基础设施将有所不同depending on which type of vaccine(s) are the most effective. The vaccines may need to be produced by processes requiring large vats of cells or other organisms, such as tobacco plants. If a successful vaccine is based on inactivated virus, vaccine production might require highly secure facilities, of which there are very few. This means that until one or more vaccine candidates are closer to being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), vaccine manufacturers will have a difficult time tailoring their existing facilities, or building new ones, that have the necessary equipment ready to produce the vaccines.

一些制药公司正在依靠公私伙伴关系to develop and scale their vaccines, such as Johnson & Johnson with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). These flexible agreements allow the federal government to help the pharmaceutical companies invest money and talent into the most promising vaccine candidates. They also make it possible for companies to overhaul their production facilities and build new ones to accommodate the new vaccines, a complex and costly process for these organizations by themselves.

Equitable distribution of a potential COVID-19 vaccine

Even if companies are able to develop and produce enough doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, there are concerns that the doses may not be distributed equitably among the global population. For example, during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Australia was the first to manufacture a vaccine but没有导出它立即因为它想首先接种其公民。此外，较富裕的国家的优势是能够以比资源较少的国家购买大量疫苗的价格要高得多。

但是，即使在像美国这样的富裕国家，也必须注意确保疫苗进入该国最脆弱的社区。大流行有devastatedminority communities in cities across the country due to deep-seated public health disparities. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Chief Medical Executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services,著名的（1:06:40）在她的证词中，有色人种更有可能贫穷，并且更有可能在被认为是必不可少的职业中工作，但他们也无法获得医疗保健。Khaldun博士（45:25）和前州长Leavitt（40:20）emphasizedthat the U.S. should develop a national procurement and distribution strategy not only to reduce the competition for vaccines, but also competition for supplies in future pandemics.

Currently, pharmaceutical companies are working to adapt their vaccine manufacturing facilities to accommodate the production of the large number of doses that will be needed to protect against COVID-19, but they have a long way to go. As Chair Alexander著名的(2:50:00), Congress will be reviewing the U.S. response to COVID-19 regularly, so stay tuned for more opportunities to engage with Capitol Hill.

To review the full hearing,点击这里.