Column: "Are we already living in the new normal?"
Last year has certainly been a challenge for everyone but there is some light at the end of the tunnel with several vaccines now on the market and people have already been vaccinated against the COVID-virus.
Pfizer vaccine is 95 percent effective but what about the other 5 percent of the population that will not be protected. Will there be an elitist movement of vaccine passports for the people who have been vaccinated? Plus, how will the younger generation get back to being able to travel? Give your family a hug?
Digital events, meetings, and virtual coffee are great, but companies still want to meet in person especially those who rely on conferences for their sales and marketing channels.
The speed to deliver vaccine that we have seen last year has certainly been unprecedented, companies have collaborated in ways that were thought impossible at the start of the year.
Prof. Daniel Smith, CSO, Cobra Biologics, explained at the virtual community "#coffeebuddies - what will the 2nd Gen of COVID vaccines look like" that they have been part of a syndicate where their competitors also have been part, but they have shared data and worked together to be able to deliver a vaccine fit for purpose. I really hope this is the future of our industry and that we work for the greater good of humanity instead of seeing what each individual company can get out of something.
The regulators have reduced their time to engage from months to weeks, Dr Sally Adams, Chief Development Officer, Scancell Ltd certainly hopes that this is something that is going to stay and not go back to how it was before.
There do seem to be bottle necks in the supply chain as crude oil is not moving around the world as there is not the demand which is having a negative effect on the petrochemical sector.
Does that mean that we need to have our own supply instead of relying on the other side of the planet?
One exciting development this year has been RNA, that has never been put into patients before. What does this mean for how the next generations of vaccines are going to look like?
One question that I have is that what channels are we going to use to keep the public knowledge about what amazing developments and therapies are going to be coming to the market in the future?
The challenges are going to be able to produce at least 7.8 billion vials of a vaccine, the supply chain and the logistics chain need to be innovative plus engineering is going to be particularly important to be able to ensure the planet has the capability and capacity to deliver this.
The unfortunate sad news around the new norm is that cancer trials and development are being put on hold as patients who would be taking part in clinical trials are unable to access the hospitals, but this really needs to be an area of focus to move healthcare into patients’ homes, with digital technology that has also made an astounding shift this year.
The next 18 months are going to be about capacity issues. The industry and everyone on the planet certainly need to think creatively around challenges and the ethical effect this is going to have on the climate and our natural resources.
So how sustainable is our industry and how can we plan for the future whether that is tomorrow or in 10 years? Are we already living in the new normal?
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