I wholeheartedly agree that disposal issues should be a major concern during the design phase of new products. The Vaccine Presentation and Packaging Advisory Group (VPPAG) is addressing the environmental impact of vaccine presentations and packaging as part of their work on a generic preferred product profile (gPPP) for vaccines (see:
http://sites.google.com/site/vppagp/gppp). The profile contains the following recommendation: “Use materials for delivery devices, primary containers and secondary and tertiary packaging that minimize the environmental impact of waste disposal for resource limited systems.” In addition, the VPPAG is undertaking a work program to “Consult with industry on feasible recommendations for packaging materials as well as maximum volume recommendations for primary containers and secondary and tertiary packaging for different vaccine types and containers and advise the WHO on setting these as recommendations for prequalified vaccines.” Thanks for raising this important issue. We hope to have further documents to share with Technet members in the near future as we develop recommendations with more specificity.
Debra D. Kristensen
Group Leader, Vaccine Technologies
PATH
1455 NW Leary Way
Seattle, WA 98107 USA
Telephone: (206) 285-3500; Fax: (206) 285-6619
Email: [
[email protected]]
[email protected][/email]; Web site:
www.path.org
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