Thank you for this information. Very useful.
In parallel, what activities are ongoing towards addressing the following (anyone with an answer should jump in, please):
1. Let us please change the vocabulary for the new generations of healthcare workers that are coming into service (as well as trying to change the mindset of current HCWs). We messed up from the beginning by allowing use of the term "open vial wastage" to prevail, and it continues. I much prefer reference to "sacrificed vaccine doses", but I recognize that this may not resonate in all settings. Perhaps a vocabulary change can help address the negative stigma attached to "sacrificing" vaccine doses (whether that be 9 in a 10 dose vial or 4 in a 5 dose vial).
2. What are the results of behavioural change intervention studies with regards to re-orienting HCW mindset that "sacrificing" vaccine doses (perhaps, within some reasonable bounds over time) is in fact part of good performance practice? Sharing these results alongside the factsheet would also be useful. If the results of these studies are mixed or fall short in rigor, then let's highlight this too.
3. Has anyone conducted any studies on the short-, medium- and long-term practical effect(s) of introducing a 5-dose vial into communities that have been using 10-dose vials? I thought this had been done as part of the Dose Per Container Partnership (DPCP) activities, but there is no reference to these in the fact sheets (or, perhaps I missed the reference). To really test the influence, a case crossover study would introduce the 5-dose vial size into a community currently using 10-dose vial size, observe HCW behaviour and then remove the 5-dose vial size with a revert to 10-dose vial size to see if HCW behaviour has indeed been influenced or whether HCWs return to old habits.
4. Is there a reason that tailoring or targeting the use of 5-dose vials is not mentioned in the factsheet? Again, I thought the DPCP had explored this area, but perhaps those results are still being reviewed.
Cheers.