PAHO/WHO, Guyana partner to develop “game-changing” vaccine technology

The Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) is currently conducting a two-day workshop in Guyana to assess the needs of the country for the development of a new vaccination technology, microarray vaccine patches.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop organised by PAHO and the Health Ministry on Wednesday, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony shared that this new technology could be a game changer for Guyana.

He added that it would also allow the Ministry to effectively carry out its duties and reach persons in remote hinterland communities in a more effective way. According to the Minister, transporting traditional vaccines is quite expensive.
“It’s really a game changer in many ways. If we adopt this technology it’s going to help us to get vaccines out to very remote communities in an easier way, because right now we have to move vaccines…from Georgetown to go out to those hinterland communities, it’s quite costly: we have to keep it at a certain temperature, when it gets there we have to store it at a certain temperature, we have to invest a lot of money in training of people and then when we finish all of that and we give the vaccines, we have to consider how we will get rid of the waste, the needles and the syringes and so on. All of that is quite problematic,” the Minister explained.
Meanwhile, a representative of the WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Mateusz Hasso-Agopsowicz shared that this new technology has been recognised by the WHO and multiple other immunisation partners, adding that not only was it being explored for both the Measles and Rubella vaccines but the end goal was to employ this tech for all vaccines.
“This new technology to deliver vaccines, microarray systems patches, have been recognised by the World Health Organisation and multiple immunisation partners as the most important tool in order to use to achieve the elimination of Measles and Rubella,” he said.
According to Hasso-Agopsowicz, knowing how a country would use this technology is essential to its development so as to fit its needs and make an impact.
“We were battled with, what is the best way to ensuring that this new innovation can be developed as fast as possible so it can be available to countries that really need it, and as part of this workshop, we’re bringing this concept, this technology here to better understand how countries, once the technology is ready…will use it, whether they would only give it to specific populations, whether they would apply it to everyone who is eligible for vaccination, whether they would be initially hesitant to introduce it, because they would like to collect some local data, we would like to know that ahead so we can well prepare for the introduction of these innovations and we can make sure that they really make an impact,” Hasso-Agopsowicz told this publication.
He further added that “There are also other vaccines in development that could be delivered using microarray patches, COVID is one example, Hepatitis B, and also other vaccines such as flu vaccines, against influenza or against HPV, and there are many [other] vaccines being evaluated, and I think the challenge is now to identify what are the most suitable and appropriate vaccines that would benefit from the fact that this technology could really reach children that haven’t been previously immunised because that is the ultimate goal of this innovation.”
According to Anna-Lea Kahn, who is also a representative of the WHO, the technology is still under development and this workshop is a representation of Global, Regional, and Country Level collaboration to inform persons of the innovation.
“The purpose of the workshop is very much to make sure that the way we embark or go about developing innovations like this technology is reflective and also meeting country needs. It’s all about making sure that it’s a bottom-up process that countries are informing the developments of innovations that meet their specific needs, thus making sure that the way we go about developing this kind of product and when we eventually do choose to introduce it, that we’re well informed and we’ve managed to design and make sure that the product corresponds with the needs of countries,” Kahn shared.
She added that by making the products better designed and corresponding with a country’s needs and priorities and preferences, they would then have a better chance of effective uptake and having the product actually have the desired impact.