Delhi and Hyderabad airports already have cold rooms for other perishable goods (Archive)
New Delhi:
Existing cold chain facilities in India are capable of storing the first shipment of nearly three million new coronavirus vaccines that have been destined for front-line healthcare and medical workers, the Ministry of Health said late Tuesday. Health. The government had also previously indicated that priority will also be given to older people with serious medical conditions.
Delhi and Hyderabad airports have already started preparing containers and temperature controlled zones to store millions of doses that are expected to be available in the coming weeks and months.
Both airports, which already have advanced processing and storage areas for vaccines and advanced pharmaceutical products, also have special “cold rooms” in which the temperature can be adjusted down to -20 degrees Celsius and “cold storage platforms”, or special trolleys that guarantee the protection of vaccines (and optimal temperatures maintained) during cargo movement between the aircraft and the cargo terminal.
Additionally, both airports, which functioned as major hubs in the early days of the pandemic and transported millions of PPE equipment, medical supplies and perishable goods, have also taken steps to minimize human contact with the dose storage and transport chain. of the vaccine. .
#CLOCK | GMR Hyderabad air cargo and Delhi Airport air cargo will play a critical role in delivering vaccines through a state-of-the-art time and temperature sensitive distribution system. (Video Source – GMR) pic.twitter.com/5yizh3Vb0F
– ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2020
A panel of experts will meet on Wednesday to review requests from the Serum Institute of India, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Bharat Biotech to approve the emergency use of their Covid vaccines in India; This will allow the vaccine to be given for a limited period of time or to specific groups of people.
The Serum Institute vaccine was developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Interim data from clinical trials from the UK and Brazil show it to be up to 90 percent effective.
The vaccine from Pfizer and German biotech partner BioNTech has reported 95 percent efficiency in phase III trials. The vaccine has been launched in the UK.
The third vaccine is Covaxin, which is developed by Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company. It is currently in phase III trials and has not yet published efficacy data.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, labeled Covishield, has an advantage that could be significant for India and other developing nations: It can be stored at refrigerator temperature. The Pfizer vaccine, on the other hand, should be kept at -70 degrees Celsius.
However, the vaccine can be stored in hospital refrigeration units for up to five days.
Pfizer has also recommended the use of ultra-low temperature freezers (commercially available) that can extend the shelf life of the vaccine by six months. The pharmaceutical giant also said that the “specially designed temperature controlled heat carriers” on which the doses will arrive could be used as “temporary storage units.”
Cold storage chambers in Delhi, Hyderabad airports, preparing for Covid vaccines
On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a nationwide vaccination campaign would begin once experts approved the Covid vaccine candidates. Addressing an all-party meeting to discuss logistics, the prime minister said: “Experts expect the vaccine to be ready in the next few weeks.”
India has reported more than 97 lakh of Covid cases since the pandemic began in December last year. Of these, about 3.83 lakh are active cases and 1.41 lakh are virus-related deaths.
With contributions from ANI, PTI
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