In response to the shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, researchers in Thailand have developed an automated Covid-19 vaccine extraction machine that optimally minimizes vaccine waste compared to manual extraction.
According to a Reuters report on August 25, the robotic arm, named AutoVacc, created by Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, can extract 12 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in just 4 minutes from a single vial, as opposed to only 10 doses per vial when done manually.
AutoVacc vaccine extraction machine developed in Thailand – (Photo: REUTERS).
Chulalongkorn University stated that the machine currently only works with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is labeled to yield 10-11 doses per vial.
“The machine ensures we can extract an additional 20% from each vial, increasing the yield from 10 to 12 doses,” said researcher Juthamas Ratanavaraporn, who leads the AutoVacc development team at the university’s Biomedical Engineering Research Center.
Ms. Juthamas estimated that if they had enough AstraZeneca vaccines for 1 million people, AutoVacc would help increase the number of doses sufficient for 1.2 million people.
According to the expert, while some places use low dead space syringes (LDS) to reduce waste, this method still requires a significant amount of labor and skill.
“This can exhaust healthcare workers. They will have to perform this task daily for months,” Ms. Juthamas said.
Reuters reported that Thailand had largely controlled the pandemic, but new variants like Delta have caused a spike in infections and deaths since April.
The evolving situation has created significant pressure on Thailand’s vaccination program.
As of now, about 9% of Thailand’s 66 million population has been fully vaccinated. However, the country’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts are facing challenges due to a lack of vaccine supply.
Ms. Juthamas’s research team stated that they could produce an additional 20 AutoVacc machines within the next 3-4 months. However, mass production for the entire country still requires investment and support from the government.
The prototype AutoVacc costs 2.5 million baht (approximately $76,000), which includes other accessories such as syringes.
The research team plans to develop similar machines for use with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
Thailand has reported approximately 1.1 million Covid-19 cases and a total of 10,085 deaths due to the pandemic.
