MISSING
LINK: COLD CHAIN
"It's not vaccines that saves lives - it's vaccinations."
- Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of W.H.O.
WHY COLD CHAIN MATTERS - A LOT!!!
Vaccines are fragile and lose potency if they get too hot or too cold. According to the UNICEF, 18-38% of vaccines are damaged due to failed temperature control. This undermines efforts to eradicate disease.
Vaccines travel from factories to shipping facilities to trucks to clinics, pharmacies, and community groups and, eventually, into people’s arms. This series of handoffs under strict temperature controls is known as the cold chain. It’s this chain — between the manufacturer and the vaccination — where each step could become the weak link.
One known vulnerability in the chain is the so-called “last mile” – where mobile clinics bring vaccinations to the people. While this is an effective strategy for reaching people, they often rely on cheap coolers and ice as the means for transport – which are inherently unreliable and result in massive waste. We cannot continue to tolerate this level of ineffectiveness. We need to invest in modern cold chain technologies that will maximize the effectiveness of the vaccinations given to people around the globe.