Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices (HMD), one of the top manufacturers of medical disposables worldwide, announced that it has ramped up production of its Kojak Auto Disable (AD) syringes in anticipation of a surge in demand for the coronavirus vaccine. AD syringes will be widely used for administering the eagerly awaited COVID-19 vaccine.
HMD, being one of the pioneers in the Indian healthcare industry, has left no stone unturned to help the government and the world fight the deadly disease. The organization is currently leading efforts to support COVID-19 vaccination in India and internationally, with production of the special Kojak Auto Disable (AD) syringes continuing on a war footing at its Faridabad plant. In fact, HMD has already produced 83.5 million Kojak Syringes as committed for the Indian Government. Considering the fact that the COVID-19 vaccine will soon be available, HMD have now shipped 140 Million Syringes, which had been ordered by the UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) for the COVAX facility. This initiative will also ensure that the world’s poor nations can also get access to the vaccine without any shortages.
AD Syringes are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF for vaccination in mass immunization programmes. The WHO even recommends the use of AD syringes to collect blood samples of COVID-19 patients. Interestingly, it was HMD that launched the first auto disable syringe in the country in the curative healthcare segment in the year 2002.
Made in technical collaboration with Star Syringes of UK, a global licensing company that had patented the design, the AD syringes have been developed to ensure patient safety. The syringes have a unique ring and break mechanism, which automatically breaks the plunger to prevent reuse of the syringes. The siliconized needles ensure smooth penetration and withdrawal of the syringes.
“While efforts to defeat the pandemic have primarily seen a focus on developing the vaccine, equally important are medical essentials – such as Auto-Disable syringes – required for administering the vaccine,” said Mr. Rajiv Nath, Managing Director, Hindustan Syringes, responding to the critical role that Kojak AD syringes will be playing in combating COVID-19 around the world. “It must be noted that even if 60 percent of the world’s population is to be vaccinated against COVID-19, four to five billion syringes will be required. We are doing the best we can and have exponentially expanded our production capacities, producing close to 1 lakh AD syringes every hour to meet the growing global demand.”
As the country’s biggest syringe manufacturer, HMD is increasing its production of Kojak AD syringes from 700 million a year to over one billion by June 2021 in order to meet the expected demand. HMD has been one of the largest suppliers of AD syringes to UNICEF for its immunization programmes for over 15 years now.
According to Prashant Yadav, a healthcare supply chains expert at Harvard Medical School, dose demand estimates may well exceed 10 billion when large-scale vaccination begins in late 2021 or 2022. While shortages of essential medical supplies and personal protective equipment obstructed responses to the pandemic in its early stages, governments are thankfully taking no chances this time, and are building up their stockpile of syringes and vials well in time. The coronavirus vaccine will mostly be administered twice – usually around 21 days apart – and full immunity starts fourteen days after the second dose.
