The availability of a vaccine is subject to the results of ongoing trials and licenses. (Figurative)
India hopes to start rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine by March 2021, but faces a huge challenge: the cold chain and distribution infrastructure.
The nation with the second highest infections in the world plans to use the existing cold chain network for its Universal Immunization Program, Rajesh Bhushan, secretary of the Union Ministry of Health, said in an email interview. But that infrastructure is designed to immunize only children and pregnant women; vaccinating India’s 1.3 billion people will require their capabilities to be significantly expanded, experts say.
“All the existing cold chain capacity is inadequate for existing vaccination programs,” said T Sundararaman, coordinator of the People’s Health Movement in New Delhi, an organization that works with academics and civil society. “Your investment in cold chains should be on the order of five to ten times what you are doing now. That level of cold equipment: acquire, distribute, assign, operate, train yourself is a great undertaking.”
The government has said it is looking at various vaccines being made both domestically and abroad, including those being developed by Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc, in addition to the AstraZeneca Plc injection that will be produced by the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world. world, Serum Institute of India Ltd.
While the availability of a vaccine is subject to the results of ongoing trials and licensing from the Indian Comptroller General of Drugs, “if all goes well” India expects the vaccine to be available in the first quarter of 2021, it said. Bhushan. He did not elaborate on how much India plans to invest to provide vaccines to its people.
“A cold chain storage space assessment has been conducted across the country to improve and scale up the Covid-19 vaccine,” Bhushan said in his email. “The necessary actions have also been initiated to strengthen the existing cold chain system.”
His office did not immediately respond to a follow-up email requesting details of the plan. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health also did not immediately respond to questions about what measures are being taken to increase the capacity of the cold chain.
Even companies competing to distribute the vaccine have raised concerns about India’s capacity.
“We are talking about the distribution of about two billion doses of vaccines across the country,” Sunil Nair, CEO of Snowman Logistics Ltd, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of cold chain equipment, told BloombergQuint. “With the current government immunization program, it can only be distributed between 20 and 25% of the total volume.”
Inadequate infrastructure
Pfizer injection should be stored at ultra cold temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius and thawed and injected within five days. Moderna has said that her vaccine can be stored at refrigerator temperature for almost a month, but needs freezer storage for longer periods.
With more than nine million reported infections and nearly 134,000 deaths, ensuring large-scale delivery of a vaccine is a top priority for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India struggles to revive its economy that has entered a recession.
The government-run national immunization program currently targets 26.7 million newborns and 29 million pregnant women each year, according to government data. Although the existing cold chain is financed and managed through public finances, increasing the capacity to meet the needs of a vaccination program that will target its entire population will also have to rely on private actors.
Along with Snowman Logistics, Blue Dart Express, owned by Deutsche Post DHL, Allcargo Logistics and Mahindra Logistics are among those competing to transport vaccines across India, the Economic Times reported Thursday.
India has “some infrastructure” to move and store vaccines at -20 degrees, Snowman Nair said. “Will it be enough? I doubt it.”
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