With over 68.2M COVID-19 cases worldwide, it’s not a big secret that the world is desperate for the vaccines that will put a stop to it all and finally get us back to our old-normal. Companies such as Pfizer, Moderna, and Astra raced on their way to finding the first vaccine and are now delivering their first shipments while trying to maintain the highest standards on safety.

Vaccines require very strict conditions to ensure high quality and safety. And while the accelerated development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines is a daunting task, distributing an effective vaccine to the population worldwide while keeping the vaccines cold (-70 c to be exact!) as they’re transported and stored around the world will likely be the greatest logistical challenge of all. 

 

Maintaining the cold chain upon delivery to distribution centers will be crucial. 

 

Cold-chain compliance requires a reliable supply of electricity, access to refrigeration and, for some vaccines, advanced freezers that can reach extremely low temperatures. Companies that make temperature-controlled containers are working to boost production and pre-condition them.

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But here’s the catch! 

 

Most of the existing solutions, while novel to the industry, still cannot fully supply safety storage of vaccines. Hospitals, clinics, pharmaceuticals and academic institutes that are testing and storing vaccines, such as COVID-19 vaccines, still lack visibility on the real-time state performance of their refrigerators.

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Sure, sensors and smart refrigerators exist. Temperature monitoring has been part of the storage safety regulation for quite some time. The concept of temperature monitoring is not new and with today’s technology progression and IoT solutions, refrigerators’ temperature data can be tracked, stored in the cloud, analyzed and sound the alarm when temperatures don’t comply with safety regulations (even real-time).

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But! And it’s a big one-- these solutions are all post-problem! 

 

These solutions can only notify us that there is a problem once a failure happens, and for many of the cases, by the time the alarm sounds, it is too late. And in this game, too late, means the possibility that some vaccines may have been compromised.

 

It is time to start PREDICTING!

 

Hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceuticals must start thinking in the direction of preventative and predictive maintenance! Stop waiting for the problem, and start catching it before it arrives. With the use of predictive maintenance technologies based on on-site data performance and ML/AL algorithms, companies can not only be able to track real-time temperatures and storage safety, but they can prevent in advance any future failure, saving major costs and vaccine compromise, health hazard and waste. 

 

Covid-19 might have emphasized this challenge, but with today’s technology there are definitely solutions for supply and storage management. The key is to switch the mindset and start thinking ahead of the game. Start thinking: predictive maintenance. 

 

About Youtiligent:

YOUTILIGENT is a pioneer in the IoT data-driven business execution. Our startup obtains data from all food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and retail related electrical appliances and delivers what managers and companies need to make better and more cost effective decisions. 

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