Pandemic-response adenoviral vector and RNA vaccine manufacturing

Rapid global COVID-19 pandemic response by mass vaccination is currently limited by the rate of vaccine manufacturing. This study presents a techno-economic feasibility assessment and comparison of three vaccine production platform technologies deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) adenovirus-vectored (AVV) vaccines, (2) messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, and (3) the newer self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccines. Besides assessing the baseline performance of the production process, the impact of key design and operational uncertainties on the productivity and cost performance of these vaccine platforms were also evaluated using variance-based global sensitivity analysis. Cost and resource requirement projections were also computed for manufacturing multi-billion vaccine doses for covering the current global demand shortage and for providing annual booster immunizations. This model-based assessment provides key insights to policymakers and vaccine manufacturers for risk analysis, asset utilisation, directions for future technology improvements and future epidemic/pandemic preparedness, given the disease-agnostic nature of these vaccine production platforms.