UK 'must ensure medicines stockpile replenished' for Covid-19 second wave

[Northerner]

Britain needs to ensure its stockpile of medicines is replenished to deal with a second wave of coronavirus and any shocks to a supply chain dominated by China and India, the trade committee warned in a report released today.

The cross party committee said the pandemic had revealed that 70% of the active ingredients used in pharmaceuticals in the UK are made in China – while India manufactured “virtually all” the paracetamol in British shops.

Drug supplies had held up during the first wave of the pandemic despite interruptions to the supply chains, helped partly by stockpiles of medicines lasting anywhere between three to six months.

The committee told ministers “they must work with the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that buffer stock is being replenished to help cope with any further wave” – warning that supply chains “can only be stretched so far” in the future.

UK must ensure medicines replenished for Covid-19 second wave

The trade committee urged ministers to develop “parallel supply chains” as a solution

www.theguardian.com

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

Worrying...add brexit to the mix..

 

[Amity Island]

Britain needs to ensure its stockpile of medicines is replenished to deal with a second wave of coronavirus and any shocks to a supply chain dominated by China and India, the trade committee warned in a report released today.

The cross party committee said the pandemic had revealed that 70% of the active ingredients used in pharmaceuticals in the UK are made in China – while India manufactured “virtually all” the paracetamol in British shops.

Drug supplies had held up during the first wave of the pandemic despite interruptions to the supply chains, helped partly by stockpiles of medicines lasting anywhere between three to six months.

The committee told ministers “they must work with the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that buffer stock is being replenished to help cope with any further wave” – warning that supply chains “can only be stretched so far” in the future.

UK must ensure medicines replenished for Covid-19 second wave

The trade committee urged ministers to develop “parallel supply chains” as a solution

www.theguardian.com

This is probably linked to the same strategy.

https://www.nursinginpractice.com/latest-news/care-homes-advised-they-can-reuse-their-patients-medicines-during-pandemic/

 

[grovesy]

Worrying...add brexit to the mix..

I recall reading that pandemic has resulted in the brexit stockpile been depleted.

 

[mikeyB]

Well, if there is a second wave in England, it won’t be one because the first wave has not been suppressed. If it lingers on into the winter, as seems likely with the English government’s grossly inept handling of the epidemic, it will coincide with Brexit, which will virtually bankrupt the economy if a second lockdown occurs. And that will be because BoJo is aiming for a no deal exit. It will also break up the UK, because Scotland will by then be Covid free, with an inevitable border preventing unnecessary travel. UDI?

We certainly won’t be able to import all essential drugs, and be assured, the inept government won’t think it a good idea to stockpile. They dream of the EU caving in on their demands, expecting something for nothing. You may think that is part of Project Fear. It isn’t, it’s just what is going to happen.