Page 14 - Logistics News - May 2021

O P I N ION

variant that was first identified in South Africa. These reporting and proactive prompt alerting in the event of
doses are currently being administered to health care an equipment issue, human error or power failure.
and frontline workers across the country. While a total
of nine million doses have been secured from Johnson Connectivity is a vital enabler of IoT devices and
& Johnson, delivery is due in the second quarter of this while the current state of infrastructure in rural and
year. Furthermore, 12 million additional doses have peri-urban regions is not always sufficient, Wi-Fi based
been secured from the global COVID-19 Vaccines Global systems are able to cover coverage gaps in automatically
Access (COVAX) facility. Two million of this batch were recording ongoing temperature and humidity, and
due for delivery from March 2021, while Pfizer has transmitting readings to a control unit as soon as
committed to delivering a further 20 million vaccine sensors come within Wi-Fi range. Each control unit
doses from the second quarter. communicates with a cloud-based platform and secure
database, which simplifies and automates reporting and
In the first phase of the rollout, approximately compliance, seamlessly closing the loop.
1.3 million health care and frontline workers will
be vaccinated, while the second phase will focus Important considerations
on approximately 20 million people consisting of Those tasked with the planning and logistics of the
essential service workers, those living in congregate vaccine rollout on the ground will have to examine
conditions (prisons and care homes), vulnerable the options carefully when it comes to choosing
individuals over the age of 18 with comorbidities the right temperature and humidity monitoring
and those over the age of 60. The remaining systems to protect these life-saving vaccines. Given
22 million of South Africa’s general population will the instability of electricity supply, it is important
receive the vaccination in the third phase. Specific to look at inherent system redundancy, which needs
delivery timelines are still unclear and there are to provide a 99.9 percent uptime. Just as important
concerns, particularly when it comes to reaching as reliability is credibility and in order to mitigate
remote and rural areas in phase three, as all of the risk, the supplier chosen needs to be endorsed by the
vaccinations require refrigeration. While the Johnson relevant accreditation bodies in line with local and
& Johnson vaccination can be stored at normal fridge global standards. Service and support are also a critical
temperature, the Pfizer vaccination must be stored at consideration, which is evident in testimonials from
-70°C and requires two doses. blue-chip corporates in the medical or food sectors. The
system will need to be capable of remote configuration
Technological advancements in temperature and management, and due consideration must be given
monitoring to ease of configuration, use and operation.
Specialist teams will be required to transport the
vaccines in newly acquired vehicles and World Health While the market offers an array of temperature
Organisation (WHO)-accredited cooler boxes to these monitoring systems, it is imperative not to choose
communities and administer them. All vaccine sites based on the price tag, particularly when budgets are
will have adequate refrigeration to ensure the cold likely to be tight. Instead, rollout task forces must
chain is maintained. Here, the Internet of Things (IoT) consider the cost of losing these vaccinations, and the
L O GI S T I CS NEWS be critical in the physical rollout across the country. compromised. This will make it undeniably clear that
resulting potential loss of life if storage conditions are
sensor-based temperature monitoring solutions will
These secure, wireless vaccine storage unit monitoring
the right cloud-based temperature monitoring system is
essential to ensure the safe, effective rollout of a vaccine
and alert systems will allow medical facilities and
that holds our hope for a return to some semblance of
pharmacies to remotely monitor COVID-19 vaccine
pre-pandemic normalcy in the not-so-distant future. •
storage temperatures through automated data logging,

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