Inside The Cold Chain: What Does It Take to Keep Vaccines Alive?

Vaccines are the impact player in our body's defence system. As the world celebrates World Immunization Week, Pharma Now's hoping to help our audience understand this impact player a little more. We've already discussed the importance of vaccines and busted some popular myths. In this article, we're targeting yet another important topic: Vaccine transportation.

From laboratories to patients, vaccines take a unique journey through a train most people haven't heard of: the cold chain.

How Cold is the Cold Chain?

A cold chain is essentially a continuous refrigerated supply chain that ensures the vaccines stay within a specific temperature range. For most vaccines, this is between 2°C and 8°C, and this temperature has to be maintained until the vaccine is finally administered to a patient.

Just like a train, the cold chain has many, equally important components:

• Manufacturing cold storage is the location where the vaccine is stored immediately after production.
• Refrigerated transportation usually uses trucks equipped with refrigeration to transport vaccines from one location to another.
• Distribution hubs store vaccines until they need to be distributed at local facilities like hospitals and clinics.
• Health center storage is the final storage point and is usually a refrigerator or freezer at a local facility like hospitals.
• Iceboxes are where vaccines are kept if multiple vaccines are being administered one after the other to patients.

There's one more bogey we're missing: Last-mile carriers. These are brave delivery agents who deliver vaccines to remote locations, sometimes on foot, bikes, cars, or drones!

In each stage, maintaining the very narrow temperature range is critical. We can anticipate your next question:

What Happens If the Cold Chain Breaks?

Real talk: Vaccines are more sensitive that the most delicate porcelain.

One second of exposure is all it takes to break them. Even if the temperature fluctuates by 0.1°C for a few seconds, the entire batch may need to be thrown away!

So, when the cold chain breaks, public health is at risk.

Of course, the world has seen such situations before. For example, Australia reported that they've lost at least $25.9 million worth of vaccines due to cold chain breaches between 2014 and 2019. 

Still, cold chain operation is quite challenging, and India is an excellent example! 

India uses an electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) that enables the real-time monitoring of 29,000+ cold chain points across the country! India also has the Universal Immunization Program, which relies on a vast cold chain network supported by 70,000 temperature loggers to provide vaccines to 26 million babies every year! 

But, don't worry! We're not leaving everything to robots and automation. There are actual real-life heroes working to make sure all vaccines reach their final destination safely. 

Let's Get To Know the Real Heroes of Vaccine Transportation 

Behind the complex web of the cold chain are people who make it happen: 

• Cold storage technicians ensure temperatures remain steady and vaccines stay safe in storage.
• Supply chain managers coordinate every step, ensuring vaccines move smoothly through the supply chain.
• Field coordinators often work in the most remote locations to oversee the distribution of vaccines.
• IoT/logging system operators using technology to track temperature data in real-time.
• Delivery agents brave difficult terrains to get vaccines to the people who need them.

These delivery agents go a long way to ensure the vaccine is safely delivered to the appropriate location. However, keeping vaccines cold isn't as easy as it sounds. They often encounter many challenges.

What's Stopping the Cold Chain?

Vaccine delivery is a challenging task, and five major issues preval--not just in India, but in all parts of the world! These issues are:

• Power outages: Power cuts are frequent in many cities, which makes refrigeration challenging.
• Difficult terrain: Climbing mountains on a weekend is one thing, but climbing them while holding a bottle of temperature-sensitive important vaccine is another. Mountains, deserts, swamps, ice--they all make delivery difficult.
• Lack of staff: Transporting a vaccine isn't just packing it in a refrigerated truck and driving. You need special training on how to handle the vaccine, and not many people have this training.
• Urban-rural distribution gaps: Urban locations often receive shipments easily, but transporting them to rural locations becomes a problem.
• Fuel availability: Lack of fuel can halt vaccine transportation, especially in remote areas! 

Solving these problems in real-time takes skill and expertise. But we can bridge this gap with technology. 

Of course, people can't store and deliver vaccines without good technology!



Technologies Helping Our Heroes Deliver Vaccines

From high-tech equipment to innovative solutions, here are a few technologies keeping vaccines safe:

• Ice-lined refrigerators and deep freezers are specialized units that maintain temperatures in areas with unreliable power supplies.
• Solar-powered vaccine carriers and storage units keep vaccines cold in areas with no electricity access.
• Real-time temperature data loggers are sensors that record the vaccine's temperature at every stage.
• GPS-integrated cold boxes are tracking systems that help owners keep tabs on where their vaccines have reached.

All these have to conform to the WHO's PQS standards, that is, performance, quality, and safety standards, which make sure the equipment used in cold chain logistics is reliable and high-quality. Because of the criticality of vaccines, new technologies are often being developed to simplify and accelerate vaccine delivery.

Innovations Changing the Game

In recent years, many new innovations have come up, which are improving cold chain logistics for vaccine delivery. Here are some you might have seen on the news:

• Drone delivery: Some companies, like Zipline, are using drone to deliver vaccine in hard-to-reach areas in Ghana.
• Blockchain integration: Blockchain is used to track all stages of the cold chain, allowing companies to easily track points where vaccine quality can be compromised.
• AI and predictive maintenance: Artificial intelligence is used to predict when refrigeration units might need a little helping hand, which will prevent unexpected failures.
• Solar power: Solar panels and solar batteries are being integrated to make vaccine storage and transportation more sustainable.

An Ode to the Chain Keepers

The next time you get a vaccine, remember — you’re not just protected by a shot… you’re protected by a chain of silent, frozen miracles. A salute to the cold chain heroes who ensure that vaccines stay alive, long before they ever reach you.

Tag a logistics expert, cold chain operator, or innovator. Let’s celebrate our #GuardiansOfImmunity.