While some vaccines will lose their potency if they are stored at temperatures above or below the standard 2º to 8ºC, many vaccines are quite heat stable and can tolerate temperatures up to 40ºC for months without spoiling. Allowing these relatively heat-stable vaccines to spend time outside of refrigeration for controlled periods of time could facilitate some outreach strategies... [Read more]

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Optimize is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding shortly with the Ministry of Health, National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), in Vietnam, to implement two phases of work. The first will evaluate opportunities for supply chain system improvement and identify cold chain technology requirements required to optimize supply systems. The second will implement technologies and system interventions that can improve the vaccine supply chain... [Read more]

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Optimize recently completed a study... in Mali to determine the feasibility of using oral polio vaccine (OPV) out of the traditional cold chain temperatures during a National Immunization Day campaign. In four health areas, thirty-nine vaccination teams successively transported OPV in the vaccine carrier with icepacks (keeping the vaccine at cold chain temperatures) and without icepacks in order to evaluate the outcome of transporting the vaccines without ensuring a continuous cold chain. [Read more]

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... The project will begin with an assessment of the existing supply chain using the newly completed effective vaccine management tool, as well as a cold chain and transport inventory. Based on those assessments, the team will study the feasibility of a moving warehouse distribution system adapted from a model developed by VillageReach in Mozambique, and also identify areas where the vaccine supply chain can be integrated with storage and distribution systems for heat-sensitive pharmaceuticals... [Read more]

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Solar refrigeration has been a promising technology for rural health outposts in developing countries for two decades, but it has one fatal flaw: the batteries tend to die long before the rest of the system is ready to give up. [Read more]

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After several preliminary discussions, WHO and PATH will collaborate on a project with the Ministry of Health in Tunisia to demonstrate and validate: (a) approaches that address anticipated challenges in the supply chain system for vaccines and other health products; and (b) new solar technologies as a means of using renewable energy for cold chain technologies in selected field sites and health centers. [Read more]

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In June, the Vaccine Presentation and Packaging Advisory Group (VPPAG) completed a draft generic preferred product profile (gPPP) for vaccines. It developed the document to be a reference for vaccines in the early stages of development, providing recommendations on formulation, presentation, labeling, and packaging to vaccine producers. ... The latest version of the gPPP is available on the VPPAG’s website. [Read more]

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Chihuahua, Mexico, just south of the US border, is so predictably sunny that one hardly needs to consult a newspaper to predict the weather. Chances are it will be sunny and dry. A few hours south, in Mexico City, the weather is more temperate and cloud cover more frequent during the year. Until now, if both cities followed World Health Organization (WHO) Performance, Quality, and Safety (PQS) standards procedure, they would need a solar refrigerator capable of lasting five days without sunshine. ... As a result, a health center in Chihuahua would have more battery space than it needs, and a health center in Mexico City would never have enough. [Read more]

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... Project Optimize anticipates the need for vaccine storage containers and carriers with high thermal efficiency coupled with state-of-the-art passive cooling technology to provide extended cold storage within the acceptable temperature range for vaccine storage which is between 2º and 8ºC. The goal is to attain functional vaccine storage cold boxes and carriers with a seven-to thirty-day cold life in 32º to 43ºC ambient environments—preferably with no energy input after initial cool down. [Read more]

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In the course of the revision of the WHO Multi-dose Vial Policy (MDVP) we came across the question if there were any vaccines in multi-dose vials that had to be discarded less than 6 hours after having been opened. Some package inserts seem to indicate this, but it is not clear whether it would deteriorate greatly or become dangerous if an aseptic technique was applied and the vaccine kept under proper cold chain and storage conditions. [Read more]

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... Vaccinating 1000 children costs $250,000 and treating 4 cases of pneumonia with Septran will cost $1. There are more cost effective interventions that will yield better returns for the use of $250,000 of MGD funds. We are aware that GAVI purchases vaccines for $7/dose or $21 per child. At these costs the price of avoiding 4 cases of pneumonia is $21,000. Even this appears very steep. [Read more]

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