Improving the Reliability and Security of Global Cold Chain Logistics
factors such as vibration, gas composition,
pressure and radiation. Most assets can be
kept in standard atmospheric (i.e., ambient)
conditions for a modest amount of time
without suffering damage, but we cannot
assume or rely on these kinds of gaps in the
cold chain.
different vaccines have varying sensitivities
to heat and light. 3 There is not a single,
perfect design for cold chain logistics to
support all vaccines, so dynamic sensors and
controls are critical.
Many Handlers
While we often need to control
environmental
parameters
while
manufacturing, storing and transporting
assets to ensure the efficacy of the asset, it
is unreasonable to spend far beyond the
value of an asset. For food supply, general
guidance is that logistics costs should not
exceed 50% of the food cost. 2 Many parties handle a vaccine during its
lifecycle. First, the vaccine must be
synthesized in a lab. Next, the vaccine is
collected for transport. Then, transportation
may occur over long distances using multiple
modes of transportation such as by land, sea
or air. Finally, local delivery brings the
vaccine to the person that will receive the
pharmaceutical.
This guideline is harder to apply to
pharmaceuticals, as the costs may be known
but the societal value becomes difficult to
quantify. An ineffective vaccine might lead
to a human death. Even worse, a patient that
we think is inoculated but truly is still at risk
can inadvertently become an infection
vector to other patients. To add complexity, Across these stages, there is ambiguity
regarding who did what, for how long, and
to what effect. The advent and adoption of
cloud computing has made it easier for each
handler to write logs to databases and keep
all interested parties advised of the status of
the cold chain. 4
2
Ji, G. and Guo, R. (2009). Research on the security of cold-chain logistics. 2009 6th International Conference on Service Systems
and Service Management.
3
WHO. (2014). Temperature Sensitivity of Vaccines. [online] Available at:
https://www.who.int/immunization/programmes_systems/supply_chain/resources/VaccineStability_EN.pdf [Accessed 9 Jan.
2019].
4
Li, X., Wang, Y. and Chen, X. (2011). Cold chain logistics system based on cloud computing. Concurrency and Computation:
Practice and Experience, 24(17), pp.2138-2150.
IIC Journal of Innovation
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