Distribution of Corona virus vaccine is main issue and challenge for world and India

 We are witnessing everyday that lakhs of people are getting infected and 1000s of people are dying because of Corona virus. In midst of this pandemic human being is eagerly waiting for its vaccine. And our scientists are working hard on finding vaccine. And it has been said that vaccine will be ready by the end of this year itself.It is happy movement that at least we heard that vaccine will be ready soon. Once vaccine is ready it doesn’t mean that battle is end but it is just half the battle. The real challenges emerge as once vaccine ready. After clinical trials it should be delivered safely to different countries, hospitals and pharmacy. It will be big challenge to deliver vaccine to end point Because the vaccine requires a different temperatures and handling procedure cold chain facilities including the equipments and procedures used in the transport and storage will be a big challenge before the administering to masses.It requires a huge investment in infrastructure of cold chain facilities which includes planes trucks refrigerators etc. We need a proper logistic infrastructure to ensure the millions of vaccine in doses will need to be transported from one country to the other country or within the country it will be a big challenge before the government. To administer the vaccine we need a strong huge cold chain facility infrastructure should be in proper place.

What is cold chain ?

According to WHO cold chain is a system of storage  transporting vaccine at the recommended temperature from point of manufacture to the point of use.

A cold chain is a temperature controlled supply chain that includes all the vaccines related equipments and procedure

This cold chain begin with cold storage unit to transport and delivery of the vaccin. The main cold chain components are planes trucks and cold storage warehouse. If we not maintained a proper cold chain facility vaccine may face a risk of waste by exposing to the temperature outside the recommended temperature.

As per one of the report international air transport associations Center for excellence for independent validations in a pharmaceutical logistic 25% of the vaccines are degraded by the time they arrive at their destination the main cause behind this degradation is a temperature error causes the loss of around 34 billion dollar annually. Temperature plays a major role in handling the vaccines because various vaccine  requires below the freezing points some  requires -50 to -90 degrees Celsius of temperature to maintain its healthy condition. MMRV, Zoster vaccines are stored at temperature of –50 & -15 ⁰c in this regard hospital play major role in administering the vaccine but several of hospitals are lack of ultra cold freezer since most of drugs and vaccine don’t need that. 

 coronavirus vaccine to be stored at much colder temperature. Most of the vaccine now short lifespan outside the freezer for example modern vaccines stored in normal refrigerator for upto only 2 weeks but must used within 6hr once at room temperature..

According to government data India has more than 27,000  cold chain point of which 750 are at district level it has been estimated that 16,000 cold chain storage along with existing one required, and 100000 fridges and 11500 refrigerated trucks are needed to successfully deliver the vaccine at right time to right place. It is being predicted that 9 billion COVID-19 vaccines would be produced in 2021 so we need a strong cold chain facility and transportations and cold storage warehouses

Vaccine candidates by Moderna and Pfizer will require stringent standards for refrigeration that may hamper how they are distributed to millions of people across India’s length and breadth.

 India like big country can face huge problems once coronavirus vaccine ready to market. In India we witnessed that there is too much human error happens like we heard that in the hospital people died because of shortage of oxygen. We have so many examples of human negligence while doing his duties. 

To successfully deliver the vaccine on time to the required one we need huge robust infrastructure and human resources with coordination and cooperation. 

In India government make good policies and strategies but when it comes to implementing it will not happen in proper way thus is biggest problem in vaccine delivery. If coronavirus vaccine distribution strategy is not implemented properly it will be big problem. Lets see how it will be delivered to patients.