COVID-19 pandemics Stage II – Energy and environmental impacts of vaccination

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic developed the severest public health event in recent history. The first stage for defence has already been documented. This paper moves forward to contribute to the second stage for offensive by assessing the energy and environmental impacts related to vaccination. The vaccination campaign is a multidisciplinary topic incorporating policies, population behaviour, planning, manufacturing, materials supporting, cold-chain logistics and waste treatment. The vaccination for pandemic control in the current phase is prioritised over other decisions, including energy and environmental issues. This study documents that vaccination should be implemented in maximum sustainable ways. The energy and related emissions of a single vaccination are not massive; however, the vast numbers related to the worldwide production, logistics, disinfection, implementation and waste treatment are reaching significant figures. The preliminary assessment indicates that the energy is at the scale of ~1.08 × 10 10 kWh and related emissions of ~5.13 × 10 12 gCO 2eq when embedding for the envisaged 1.56 × 10 10 vaccine doses. The cold supply chain is estimated to constitute 69.8% of energy consumption of the vaccination life cycle, with an interval of 26–99% depending on haul distance. A sustainable supply chain model that responds to an emergency arrangement, considering equality as well, should be emphasised to mitigate vaccination's environmental footprint. This effort plays a critical role in preparing for future pandemics, both environmentally and socially. Research in exploring sustainable single-use or reusable materials is also suggested to be a part of the plans. Diversified options could offer higher flexibility in mitigating environmental footprint even during the emergency and minimise the potential impact of material disruption or dependency.

SARS-CoV-2 variants and environmental effects of lockdowns, masks and vaccination: a review

“…The vaccine itself also contributes, both as closed and open vial wastage. It has been found that between 0.3 and 30 percent of waste is related to COVID-19 vaccines (Klemeš et al 2021 ). There are two main environmental issues associated with vaccination programs such as the management of solid and liquid waste.…”

“…Therefore, the total amount of fuel consumed would be between 768 and 832 kt. If one takes into account the conversion of carbon dioxide emissions and fuel-burning (i.e., approximately 3.03 t of carbon dioxide is emitted for 1 t of fuel-burning) (Pearce 2021 ), the total carbon dioxide emissions associated with COVID-19 vaccine flights would be in the range of approximately 2.38–2.57 Mt (Klemeš et al 2021 ).…”

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic to the Sustainability of the Energy Sector

“…Several authors discussed the environmental impacts of COVID-19 vaccination, environmental and energy footprints of fighting against pandemic [36,108] and stressed the importance to implement the vaccination in a maximum sustainable way [37].…”

Environmental impact of COVID-19 Vaccine waste: A perspective on potential role of natural and biodegradable materials

“…The humankind is drenched into devastating health implications due to the outbreak of COVID-19 viral disease caused by a novel virus named ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)’ [1] . In post-pandemic era, scientific community have successfully promoted the counter measures to the contagion COVID-19 through repurposed antiviral drugs for treatment of the infected patients and prevention via attenuated vaccine administration [2] . After uplifting the lockdowns, the major focus was on production, deployment, and injection of COVID-19 vaccines.…”