Valvida
An organization focused on the development of vaccine delivery technology
The Problem
According to the World Health Organization, “coverage has stalled at 86%,” as of 2016.
Lacking vaccine coverage correlates with low accessibility to electricity. BBC reports that Nigeria ranks lowest in measles and Hib vaccination, with 42% and 10% coverage, respectively. Not coincidentally, only 57% of the Nigerian population has access to power.
WHO’s report on State of the world's vaccines and immunizations calculates that prices per vaccine have increased by a factor of five, and Harrison Hayes, a market research firm, indicates that roughly $200 million are lost annually to faulty cold chain refrigeration.
There is a lot to be gained in global vaccination coverage from new technology in vaccine transport that requires minimal electricity and money.
Current Work
UNICEF wrote in 2009 that, since the 1980s, only traditional cold chain refrigerators have been used, but more efficient technologies have come into the field since then.
A main technology of interest is heat resistant vaccines, which are in a powder form for heat resistance, but it could take many years before being available for all types of vaccines.
The PATH organization analyzed three promising technologies, which used phase-changing materials (PMC). PMC, however, needs to be refrigerated separately before each use, which takes up to 60 hours. This means huge cost and timeline complications.
Solar powered refrigeration (Charters et al.), and solar sorption refrigeration (Fan et al.) have also been proposed. Charters’s approach works, but only if there is either a battery or enough insulation to fill in at night, which means environmental harm (toxic batteries) and higher cost. Solar sorption can have “long-term problems,” is very complex, performs poorly, and may freeze vaccines at night (Fan et al.).