The unprecedented effort to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines is disrupting supplies of other critical medicines in the U.S., including treatments for infectious diseases and injectable drugs that prevent blindness. Pfizer has told U.S. hospitals to expect interruptions to supplies of four of its products — an antibiotic, a steroid and two types of testosterone — according to The Financial Times (March 19, 2021). The drugs require some of the same ingredients and manufacturing capacity as the Covid-19 vaccine that Pfizer has co-developed.
Pfizer warned of “short-term supply interruptions to medicines due to increased vaccine production” and stated that hospitals should “anticipate some disruptions” in the second half of the year. The company said that it aimed to deliver approximately 2 billion doses of its Covid vaccine globally by the end of 2021.
This comes as the U.S. tries to boost vaccine supplies in order to fully reopen its economy. The government has invoked the Defense Production Act to ensure that vaccine makers get the drugs and production capacity they need. But the use of that Korean war-era powers has left a third of pharmaceutical firms scrambling for ingredients, equipment or space on production lines.
Other groups involved in medicine production and distribution are also struggling. Schott, one of the world’s largest glassmakers, warned that there was a wait of 12- 18 months for new orders of glass vials. That shortage is affecting almost every type of injectable drug in the U.S., including chemotherapy, insulin and other medicines that are found in crash carts in ERs, ICUs, and surgical suites in hospitals.
Catalent, a contract manufacturer working for the vaccine makers Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, is also prioritizing large orders of injections over other treatments, meaning thousands of patients have had to do without Tepezza, a treatment for thyroid eye disease.
Classroom discussion questions:
- Chapter 13 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text lists 5 capacity options used as aggregate planning strategies. Which could Pfizer and others employ today?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option you named?
