BHOPAL: Like others, Madhya Pradesh has a ‘fragmented cold chain’ instead of a single cold chain system for Covid-19 vaccine transportation. The challenging task is to maintain a single Cold chain for vaccination. There is a fragmented cold chain in the country. Analysts point out that cold chain infrastructure is a key bottleneck in the vaccination.
A cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain. An unbroken cold chain is an uninterrupted series of refrigerated production, storage and distribution activities, along with associated equipment and logistics, which maintain a desired low-temperature range. Single cold system means temperature is uniformly maintained from manufacturing point to end point.
As per medical experts, delivering vaccines to all corners of the state is a complex undertaking. It takes a chain of precisely coordinated events in temperature-controlled environments to store, manage and transport these life-saving products. This is called a cold chain. Vaccines are always transported directly by plane from the manufacturer as refrigerated cargo to the country where they will be used. Once they land, they are stored in cold rooms before being distributed to regional and sub-regional cold storage facilities by refrigerated vehicle. From storage facilities down to the village level, health workers carry vaccines in cold boxes and vaccine carriers, traveling by car, motorcycle or on foot to immunize every last child, even in the most remote of villages.
