US Government Signs Deal for over 500 million Prefilled Vaccine Syringes

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The Trump administration has signed a $138 million deal for the production of over 500 million prefilled syringes in the event a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. Produced by innovative syringe company ApiJect, the syringes will carry an optional RFID/NFC tag to provide information on the serial number, GPS location, and date/time of each vaccine.

In a press release on May 12, the US Defense Department (DoD) said: “Today the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announce a $138 million contract with ApiJect Systems America for “Project Jumpstart” and “RAPID USA,” which together will dramatically expand U.S. production capability for domestically manufactured, medical-grade injection devices starting by October 2020.”

Concerning the “optional RFID/NFC tag” on each syringe, ApiJect says on its website that health officials can make better decisions about running a vaccination program or dealing with a pandemic if they know when and where each vaccine was given.

Explaining how tagging would work, the ApiJect website explains: “Before giving an injection, the healthcare worker will be able to launch a free mobile app and “tap” the prefilled syringe on their phone, capturing the NFC tag’s unique serial number, GPS location and date/time. The app then uploads the data to a government-selected cloud database. Aggregated injection data provides health administrators an evolving real-time “injection map.”

According to the DoD, the RAPID USA syringe program “will provide increased lifesaving capability against future national health emergencies that require population-scale vaccine administration on an urgent basis.” Under the terms of the contract signed, ApiJect will be able to make 100 million syringes for distribution by the end of 2020 and the ultimate production goal of 500 million in 2021, the DoD said.

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