Four provinces trained on eZCooler for storage and transportation of vaccines

For many medical staff working in rural areas, eZCooler is a "magical box" that will make their work immensely more convenient

Many medical staff in rural areas were relieved when experts told them that one of eZCooler’s superior features is that it can preserve vaccines for up to three days: “Finally, we no longer need to worry about unstable temperatures during vaccine delivery!”

In big cities, it is common for children to get vaccinated at hospitals or preventive medicine centres but in numerous mountainous provinces, especially remote and extremely difficult-to-reach areas with rough terrain, vaccination is a struggle.

This is even more challenging because vaccine transportation requires very high levels of stability during transport. Traditional preservation methods can only keep the cold temperature stable for a short time, while the road can be long and dangerous.

EZCooler outperforms traditional methods with outstanding features such as its ability to maintain stable temperature from 2°C to 8°C continuously for 2-3 days, reducing pressure on medical staff when receiving and returning vaccines. Effective shock resistance to minimise damage during transportation ensures the safety and quality of the vaccines, increasing the accessibility to immunisation and improving immunity in community. To medical staff working in rural areas, eZCooler is indeed a "magical box".

In recent years, Vietnam has been a bright spot of expanded immunisation programmes thanks to increased coverage in many provinces, districts, and communes nationwide with over 95 per cent of children under 1 year old being vaccinated.

The storage and transportation of vaccines are implemented from central to provincial, district, and commune levels. The communal health centre is responsible for vaccination at the station or outside. This is an area that few people appreciate but is very important because this process directly affects the quality and quantity of vaccines. However, at present, the vaccine is mainly stored and transported by cold boxes, cold thermos, or refrigerators. Not only in mountainous areas, the delta provinces have also encountered many difficulties in this field.

Le Thi Thanh, who works at the Centre for Preventive Medicine in Yen Phong district, Bac Ninh province, said, “It’s a big challenge for us to execute the expanded immunisation programme in our district. We face with many difficulties in approaching rural and remote areas, especially during the flood season. Such situations can negatively affect the storage and transportation of vaccines. I believe that eZCooler is an ideal solution for these difficulties.”

It is clear that the project on enhancing the cold chain storage during vaccine transportation under the expanded immunisation programme in Vietnam in 2018-2020 implemented by the National Institute for Control of Vaccine and Biologicals in collaboration with Zuellig Pharma is achieving very encouraging initial results. EZCooler – the new technology in packaging and cold storage ensuring the integrity of temperature for sensitive products during transportation – is well-received.

By this time, Zuellig Pharma has completed training on the use of eZCooler for medical staff in four provinces, including Bac Ninh, Son La, Ha Giang, and Yen Bai. The staff of the remaining two provinces, Hai Duong and Quang Ninh, will be trained on December 17 and 18, respectively.

With six provinces sponsored, Zuellig Pharma Vietnam has shown their goodwill and devotion since each province has different difficulties in implementing the expanded immunisation programme. Son La, Ha Giang, and Yen Bai encounter topographical challenges, while Bac Ninh and Hai Duong have difficulties in vaccine storage time at healthcare stations, and Quang Ninh is a combination of mountainous, delta, and island areas and is struggling with both difficulties.

Reportedly, after completing the training for 176 medical staff, Zuellig Pharma will hand over 623 eZCooler boxes of three capacities: 8 litres, 12 litres, and 96 litres to the six provinces. These are the first localities in Vietnam to use eZCooler, Zuellig Pharma previously donated this technology to several countries, including Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.