24/7 Cold Chain Management System by Primary Health Care Corporation to support the National COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Program

Abstract

Background: Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented human and economic losses. The availability of safe and effective vaccines against the virus is instrumental in saving lives. Supply chain readiness is key to efficiently deliver vaccines to the target populations.1 To control temperature excursions and equipment breakdowns with an upgraded cold chain system with the latest technology suitable in a hot country are challenging. Methods: Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) institutionalized a continuous temperature monitoring system using a specific Temperature Monitoring Device (TMD) called a Digital Data Logger (DDL) mounted on cold chain medical equipment like pharmaceutical refrigerators, freezers, and the pre-qualified iceboxes of the World Health Organization (WHO). The DDL devices were affixed to the medical equipment to monitor the temperature and are supported by sound alarm when there are temperature excursions. Results: PHCC Cold Chain Management Ecosystem (Figure 1) involves vaccine vials stored in pharmaceutical refrigerators with a temperature range between 2°C to 8°C and freezers with a temperature range between -10°C to -30°C and WHO prequalified iceboxes for short periods of transportation.2 The DDL has a set point temperature measuring limit, measuring interval, and delay time (Table 1) defined for temperature monitoring.3 PHCC Bio-Medical Engineering Department has successfully institutionalized a 24-hour/7 day a week Cold Chain Management System across 27 PHCC health centers. Moreover, a Cold Chain Management System was arranged in an offsite facility within a short period of 72 hours at the Qatar National Convention Centre where the Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Program administered 650,000 doses over 4 months with Zero Wastage of Vaccines attributed to any temperature excursions. Conclusion: PHCC can rapidly deliver healthcare cold chain management solutions under any circumstances. To leverage economies of scale and utilize emerging technology, PHCC has envisioned a plan to migrate the cold chain medical equipment 24/7 temperature monitoring based on cloud services in 2022.