Technology to save millions, extends vaccine outreach programs. Vaccine management.

Abstract

Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Seattle, Washington, has collaborated in developing a technology that improves the delivery of vaccines in the developing world. HEATmarker is a vaccine vial label which changes color with exposure to heat over time. This allows health workers to verify--at time of use--that each vial of vaccine is in usable condition and has not lost its potency due to heat exposure. Vaccine vial monitors (VVMs) have recently been mandated on all oral polio vaccine purchased and distributed by UNICEF throughout the world. "Vaccine vial monitors will revolutionize the way vaccines are delivered, enabling them to be administered in remote areas, outside the reach of the traditional 'cold chain' that extends from manufacturer to consumer. As a result, millions more children in remote parts of the world will have access to oral polio and other vaccines," states Peter Evans of the World Health Organization (WHO), Global Programme for Vaccine and Immunization. Evans adds, "WHO expects that $10 million a year will be saved for oral polio vaccine alone." VVMs will enable health workers to use vaccine that would otherwise have been discarded. Until now, health workers disposed of any polio vaccine that may not have been properly refrigerated in transport or that had been opened but not used because they were unable to tell if it was potent. In the future, WHO intends to require VVMs on vaccines for measles, hepatitis B, and other childhood diseases, which will result in millions more lives and dollars being saved.