Home / Health / India faces cold chain logistics challenge for Covid-19 vaccination

India faces cold chain logistics challenge for Covid-19 vaccination

The nation with the world's second-highest infections plans to use the existing cold chain network in place for its Universal Immunization Program

Premium

The Pfizer shot needs to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures of -70 degrees celsius and thawed and injected within five days

Archana Chaudhary and Ragini Saxena | Bloomberg

4 min read Last Updated : Nov 24 2020 | 7:17 AM IST

India hopes to start rolling out a Covid-19 vaccine by March 2021, but it faces a steep challenge: cold chain and distribution infrastructure.

The nation with the world’s second-highest infections plans to use the existing cold chain network in place for its Universal Immunization Program, said Rajesh Bhushan, secretary to India’s federal health ministry, in an email interview. But that infrastructure is geared to only immunize children and pregnant women -- vaccinating India’s 1.3 billion people will require its capacities to be significantly scaled up, experts say.

“The entire existing cold chain capacity is inadequate for existing vaccination programs,” said T. Sundararaman,

Topics : Coronavirus Coronavirus Vaccine Coronavirus Tests Pfizer

What you get on BS Premium?

Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.
Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.
Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.
Preferential invites to Business Standard events.
Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.

VIEW ALL FAQs

Need More Information - write to us at assist@bsmail.in