Coronavirus | Government Planning Cold Chain Storage Facility for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery

May be a vaccine against Coronavirus (((COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) (# If there is no character limit, add parentheses when it first appears) With availability within a few months, the government has begun a major exercise to plan a cold chain storage facility for rapid delivery of vaccines nationwide.

A national group of experts discusses with the pharmaceutical sector, food processing industry, public and private sector entities in the agricultural business, and food delivery start-ups such as Swiggy and Zomato to store and store refrigerated or refrigerators at the Talca level. Is identified. Vaccines will be distributed, according to sources who know the discussion directly.

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Vaccine distribution plans are likely to be announced around mid-next week, they said. Within the next few months, at least one domestic vaccine and three foreign vaccines may be available in India.

Most vaccine candidates require a cold supply chain that is well below 0 degrees Celsius and can drop to -80 degrees Celsius, but most should be kept at 2-8 degrees Celsius.

Most vaccine candidates are in liquid form, with the exception of some lyophilized products, according to sources. They are administered via intramuscular injection / route and the requirement is a double dose regimen.

The majority of vaccine candidates are available in multiple dose vials (2.5, 10, 20, and 50 doses per vial).

Given that 18% of the population needs to be covered within 6 months, they said an estimate of the cold chain space required for the vaccine was made, they said, and the current temperature range (+2 to +8 degrees Celsius). From -15 degrees-in the scenario, 20 degrees Celsius) is considered to account for proper storage in both conditions.

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The Union Department of Health has already begun a cold chain augmentation program to address the additional cold chain space required for vaccines.

According to sources, there is a temporary requirement for surge capacity (2-3 months) for large-scale refrigeration at the state / regional level to store and distribute large amounts of vaccine.

Most vaccine products under development require the traditional cold chain temperature range (+ 2 to + 8 ° C and -15 to -20 ° C), while some products are -60 to -80 °. May require a temperature of C. You can find the sector that maintains such storage.

As multiple vaccination sessions are planned, additional support by increasing the fleet of refrigerated vans to transport vaccines will support mega-vaccination drives, they said.

Cold chain capacity needs to be increased most in the order of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana, and Delhi, sources said. There is. Other states that need to increase their cold chain capabilities are Assam, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Orissa.

They said that capacity enhancements per Taluka were also mapped. Sources also said there was some debate about pricing vaccines, whether they were given free of charge or for a fee.

Earlier this week, Federal Health Minister Hirschwaldan said the government would use the COVID-19 vaccine 400 to 500 million times to cover about 2 to 2.5 billion rupees by July 2021. Said. We plan to store and distribute the vaccine by October 15.

According to experts, the safe delivery of vaccines for mass immunization against COVID-19 is a major challenge and the country needs to significantly upgrade its cold chain facilities.

Pawanexh Kohli, Founding CEO of the National Cold Chain Development Center (NCCD) of India, agreed that the protocol requires the COVID-19 vaccine to be kept at 2-8 ° C until delivery during transport and storage.

Most of the vaccines are distributed through the Center’s Universal Vaccination Program (UIP) mechanism, but experts also suggest that the government rope the private cold chain operators.

The vast scale of India’s UIP is supported by more than 27,000 functional cold chain points, of which 750 (3%) are above the district level. According to the government’s comprehensive multi-year UIP plan for 2018-22, the rest are below the district level. This includes 76,000 cold chain “equipment”, 2.5 million healthcare professionals, and 55,000 cold chain staff, the plan report said.