by Shea Vincent, Senior Marketing Director at Stirling Ultracold
With the COVID-19 Omicron variant spreading rapidly across the world, logistics challenges continue to be a barrier to global vaccination, from first-mile to last-mile distribution. While developed nations like the United Arab Emirates and Portugal are well under way of vaccinating their entire populations, transportation and infrastructure challenges in less developed regions continue standing in the way of vaccination rate improvements. In fact, nearly 60% of people in advanced economies are fully vaccinated, while a staggering 96% of people in low-income countries remain completely unvaccinated.
As vaccination barriers in these regions persist, COVID-19 will only continue to spread, giving way to additional mutations. Fortunately, vaccine inequity can be solved through the implementation of flexible cold storage infrastructure in remote regions. While most flexible cold storage solutions often come with a premium price tag, collaborations among solutions providers and non-profit organizations enable donations and contributions to be delivered to nations in need. BioLife Solutions and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) recently announced a partnership that will help extend lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines to people in these territories.
This article will explore both the logistical and cold chain challenges of distributing vaccines to developing countries, as well as the goals and benefits of this critical partnership.
Cold Chain Challenges Remain in Remote Communities
Due to the limited power infrastructure and extreme environmental conditions in remote regions, most ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers are incapable of safely distributing and effectively storing temperature-sensitive vaccines. Additionally, most of these territories are located in highly agricultural regions that lack efficient transportation, with 70-90% of residents in the least developed countries living in rural geographies. As a result, these populations struggle with considerable transportation barriers, making it difficult to receive and access vaccines. Fortunately, flexible ULT solutions do exist today that could help contribute to more equitable cold storage access, such as BioLife Solutions’ Stirling Ultracold ULT freezers.
Lessons Learned from Puerto Rico’s Strategy
In order to understand how the partnership between UNICEF and BioLife Solutions will work, it’s crucial to look at successful strategies used by other remote regions, like Puerto Rico. While the remote island of Puerto Rico is not considered an underdeveloped territory, it has struggled with poor environmental conditions and natural disasters for years on end. Furthermore, its residents have been experiencing numerous power failures, as its electrical power grid is plagued with deteriorating equipment, poor maintenance and more. Nonetheless, Puerto Rico has risen through the ranks of American vaccination rates, becoming the most vaccinated region in America.
Leveraging the Stirling Ultracold freezers, Puerto Rico created an inoculation strategy that was both adaptable and flexible. Through a spoke-hub distribution paradigm, Puerto Rico created a central hub on the island, where incoming vaccines were delivered and placed in larger ULT freezers. To extend these doses to residents, vaccines were transferred to portable ULT freezer models and distributed through a series of spokes, or routes. These portable ULT units are critical in regions with unreliable energy supplies, as they can plug into power ports in moving vehicles, without the need to connect to a main power source. By modelling a similar strategy to Puerto Rico, developing nations can make the most out of BioLife Solutions’ and UNICEF’s partnership, and boost their vaccination rates.
A Critical Partnership to Minimize Vaccination Rate Gaps
The collaboration between BioLife Solutions and UNICEF is crucial for extending thermal stability of COVID-19 vaccines to remote communities in Africa, the Middle East and South America. BioLife’s portable ULT freezers, manufactured by Stirling Ultracold, are optimal in rural geographies, as they can withstand tropical climates, while maintaining storage temperatures between -20°C to -86°C. Thus, the integrity of biologic assets is preserved as they are transported from one point to another. And, because the freezers are shippable via air freight, the time it takes to deliver ULT storage to remote regions is drastically reduced. In addition to being brownout-tolerant, Stirling’s portable models can operate on flexible power, such as direct current (DC) power supply, making it ideal in locations with limited power infrastructure.
Conclusion
With nearly 62% of the world having received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, there is still quite a way to go in terms of global vaccination. However, collaborations such as the one between UNICEF and BioLife bring the world one step closer to the end goal. Furthermore, implementation of proper infrastructure, as well as developments in mRNA science, greatly contribute to the battle against COVID-19, while helping defend against other emerging viruses and diseases.
About the Author: Shea Vincent is the senior marketing director for Stirling Ultracold, a part of BioLife Solutions. She received her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University.