Vaccimon Device: A Design and Development of Vaccine Carrier Monitoring Device for COVID-19 Vaccines

Abstract

Vaccination is one of the effective programs to combat the devastating effects of COVID-19. These vaccines are handled carefully and monitored from their suppliers down to the vaccination sites, preserving the quality. Current vaccine tracking device implementation needs the opening of the vaccine carrier, which leads to the risk of exposure to unwanted light and temperature. This paper aims to design and develop a device for vaccine carriers to aid health workers in monitoring vaccines without exposure to unwanted conditions. The development was done working closely with target end users and made iterations before making the monitoring device available. The monitoring device attached to the off-the-shelf ice box used an ESP32 development board with sensors programmed in Arduino IDE. The device has undergone 8-hour and 24-hour temperature tests. The designed monitoring device on the test could record an acceptable temperature range for 22 hours and 26 minutes. The results indicate that the monitoring device can run reliably, even for an extended period. The off-the-shelf ice box used with the monitoring device can be a viable alternative to the scarce and expensive WHO-accepted vaccine carriers. The monitoring device can also be used with other vaccines if the temperature requirement ranges from 2°C to 8°C.