Two senior officials from Luxembourg-based B Medical Systems will arrive in New Delhi over the weekend to initiate discussions with senior government officials, scientists and diplomats on establishing a cold chain for Covid-19 vaccines in the country. . The company is considering setting up a plant in the country with its Indian partners to supply specialized refrigerated vaccine transport boxes and freezers.
The cold chain is among the biggest logistics challenges in getting the coronavirus vaccine to people across the country.
Injections of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first vaccine licensed for use by any government, must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 F) or below. Moderna’s vaccine should be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius for shipping and long-term storage for up to six months, but it can be kept at regular refrigeration temperatures for up to 10 days, according to a Reuters report.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has indicated that India may not opt for the Pfizer vaccine, but will wait a few more weeks for one to be manufactured in the country. “The world is looking for a cheap but effective vaccine against Covid-19. The world is looking at India, ”he said.
Officials said price is a factor. Another is delivery logistics. Prime Minister Modi told the all-party meeting that the government was investigating the logistics of storage and transportation of the vaccine.
Officials said the logistical challenge of the vaccine had figured in the conversation of Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel last month, who offered to help establish a vaccine cold chain through B Medical Systems.
B Medical Systems CEO Luc Provost and Deputy CEO Jesal Doshi will arrive in the country on Saturday and meet with top NITI Aayog officials and ministries of health and external affairs over the next two days starting. Sunday.
They will then travel to Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad to meet with the three companies that are working on India’s top candidates for the Covid vaccine; Bharat Biotech from Hyderabad and the Serum Institute of India from Pune and the Zydus Biotech Park from Ahmedabad.
B Medical Systems, which has the technology to store vaccines at minus 80 degrees Celsius, intends to build a plant in Gujarat. But this will take time, and in the meantime, the company is expected to import boxes that can be used to transport vaccines as soon as production begins.
In September, the company’s website says, it partnered with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to donate equipment for the storage of critical Covid-19 vaccines to a Mumbai hospital where clinical trials were underway.
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