A group of national experts is speaking with public and private sector entities in the pharmaceutical sector, the food processing industry and agricultural companies, as well as food delivery startups such as Swiggy and Zomato to identify cold rooms or fridges to taluka level that can store and distribute the vaccine, sources with direct knowledge of the discussions said.
A draft outline for the vaccine’s distribution is likely to be published by the middle of next week, they said.
India is likely to have at least one domestic and three foreign vaccines in the coming months.
Most vaccine candidates will require a cold supply chain, with temperatures that can go well below zero degrees Celsius, down to -80 degrees Celsius, although most must be kept between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius.
The sources said that most vaccine candidates are in liquid form, except for some lyophilized products. They must be administered by injection / intramuscular route and the requirement will be a two-dose regimen.
Most candidate vaccines would be available in multidose vials (2.5, 10, 20, and 50 doses per vial).
An estimate of the cold chain space needed for vaccines was made considering that 18 percent of the population would need to be covered in six months, they said, adding that both the current temperature ranges (+2 to +8 degrees Celsius and -15 to -20 degrees Celsius) so that the scenario takes into account proper storage in any condition.
The Union Ministry of Health has already initiated a cold chain augmentation plan to address the additional cold chain space needed for the vaccine.
Sources said there will be a temporary (2-3 month) surge capacity requirement for large state / regional cold storage to store and distribute large incoming quantities of the vaccine.
While most vaccine products in development require a traditional cold chain temperature range (+2 to +8 degrees Celsius and -15 to -20 degrees Celsius), some products may require a temperature of -60 to -80 degrees Celsius for which the support of the private sector You can look for the sector that maintains said storage.
With the planning of multiple immunization sessions, additional support by increasing the fleet of refrigerated vans to transport vaccines will support the mega immunization campaign, they said.
The sources said cold chain capacity should be further increased in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana and Delhi, in that order. Other states that need to increase cold chain capacity are Assam, Jharkhand, Punjab and Odisha.
Taluka’s increased capacity has also been mapped, they said. The sources also said that some discussions have also taken place about the price of the vaccine and it is being debated whether they will be given free or for a price.
Earlier this week, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the government expects to receive and use 400-500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, and cover approximately 20-25 crore of people by July 2021. The Center has also reportedly directed states to make a robust plan for vaccine storage and distribution by October 15.
According to experts, the safe delivery of vaccines for mass immunization against Covid-19 is a huge challenge and the country will need to significantly increase its cold chain facilities.
Pawanexh Kohli, founding executive director of India’s National Center for Cold Chain Development (NCCD), agreed that the protocols will require Covid-19 vaccines to be kept between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, while being transported and stored up to Delivery.
While most of the vaccines will be distributed through the Center’s Universal Immunization Program (UIP) mechanism, experts also suggest that the government include private cold chain operators.
India’s large scale UIP is supported by more than 27,000 cold chain functional points, of which 750 (3%) are at the district level and above. The rest are below the district level, according to the government’s comprehensive multi-year UIP plan for 2018-22.
This includes 76,000 cold chain ‘teams’, 2.5 million healthcare workers and 55,000 cold chain employees, according to the plan’s report.
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