Botched AstraZeneca COVID vaccine rollout has global implications

Person examining syringe.

Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson have led the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. The speed of their vaccines’ development has raised several questions about side effects and effectiveness, but no company’s COVID-19 vaccine has been as polarizing as AstraZeneca’s. Suffice it to say the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine rollout was riddled with problems.

While the U.S. has yet to authorize use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical and biotech company has entered contracts with several European countries, including the U.K. and France.

MFactor of AstraZeneca. MFactor is a proprietary tool that measures cultural momentum through topic modeling and sentiment analysis.

The botched AstraZeneca COVID vaccine rollout

As countries face a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, the MFactor for AstraZeneca has risen to a high of 31 this year as uncertainty about their vaccine increases. Their credibility took a major hit after several European countries paused inoculation due to blood clots and to make matters worse, the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine rollout reported outdated info from a U.S. trial.

These two incidents have brought global use into question. Although European regulators have since confirmed that the vaccine is safe, the company’s next challenge is building trust.

As vaccine rollouts escalate, new risks and side effects are inevitable; but the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine rollout missteps could have far-reaching implications. Because the vaccine is cheaper than many of its rivals and easier to store, it is expected to be widely deployed in lower- and middle-income countries in the coming years.

AstraZeneca must increase trust in their vaccine and in the global rollout that depends on it. If they don’t, lost credibility and trust will affect more than just their brand—it could become a global health problem.

How To Approach Rollouts

In the moonshot approach to COVID-19 vaccinations, countries have failed to engage their publics and companies have failed to communicate the advantages of their vaccinations, instead relying on scare tactics to draw the unvaccinated. To increase confidence, governments and companies must motivate vaccinations by explaining the benefits to the world.