Dear colleagues, In 2017, WHO, PATH, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF and Gavi launched the Vaccine Innovation Prioritisation Strategy (VIPS), with the aim to drive vaccine product innovation to better meet country needs and support Alliance goals on immunisation coverage and equity. Product innovation refers to completely new vaccine products or adaptations to existing products that provide measurable financial or programmatic benefits to low and middle income countries (L...

As countries increasingly implement and scale electronic immunization registries (EIRs), it will be critical that they exchange lessons and best practices. The BID Initiative, which is led by PATH, in partnership with the governments of Tanzania and Zambia, recently hosted delegates in Tanzania from PATH's Vietnam office and the country's Ministry of Health. Despite their different health contexts and challenges, Vietnam and Tanzania ha...

WHO PQS is conducting a survey to learn from users of Remote Temperature Monitoring Devices (RTMDs) and inform the future of vaccine cold chain monitoring. Have you ever… Received a text, email or notifications from an RTMD? Interacted with RTMD hardware in the field, including responding to alarms? Setup RTMD hardware and/or software? Interacted with an online RTMD web portal? Conducted repairs or service on RTMDs? If so, we want YOU to help inform the future of RTMD...

We are happy to announce the latest version of the Total Cost of Ownership tool for cold chain equipment (v1.5) is now available to download and use. If you have been using an earlier version of the tool, please download the latest version from the link below.   Version 1.5 includes options to add Service Bundle quotes for CCEOP procurement which will overwrite installation cost assumptions.  Version 1.5 also features enhanced warranty comparisons that reflect the value of standard wa...

A new PQS freeze protected vaccine carrier has been approved. The incorporation of this new carrier would solve a serious problem but at a considerable cost. PATH estimates that 2 million carriers would have to be replaced. Several years ago we had been working on a freeze protection method which incorporated water as a phase change barrier between the stored vaccines and the ice packs. This appears to be the same freeze protection mechanism incorporated in the PQS approved carrier. T...

PATH’s Freeze-Safe innovation sets a new benchmark, helping protect vaccine potency, reducing health worker burden, and providing cost savings to health systems Seattle, February 7, 2018—This week, the first commercially available freeze-free vaccine carrier will begin introductory field trials in Nepal. This follows the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement that the Indian-made carrier using PATH’s “Freeze-Safe” reference design passed WHO Performance, Quality, and Safety (PQS...

Electronic immunization registries (EIRs) and other immunization information systems can be powerful tools, but in order to achieve their long-term sustainability, countries and governments must understand the financial investment to develop, implement, and sustain such tools as the BID Initiative's EIRs in Tanzania and Zambia. This sort of costing information helps countries budget for and plan for expansion.  Learn more about BID's total cost of ownership (TCO) tool in

We are happy to announce the latest version of the Total Cost of Ownership tool for cold chain equipment (v1.4) is now available to download and use. If you have been using an earlier version of the tool, please download the latest version from the link below.   Version 1.4 includes filters for CCEOP eligible equipment, as well as filters for refrigerator/freezer combination devices.  The latest version of the TCO tool contains PQS pre-qualified equipment as of May 2017. Pleas...

To ensure that solar direct drive (SDD) appliances can keep vaccines at acceptable temperatures continuously, the installed photovoltaic array often produces excess power that is not used by the primary cooling load and this excess power generally goes unutilized. If this power is to be used, the primary SDD appliance load must be prioritized above any other load. WHO and other organizations have been working to define how this can be done safely and reliably. In support of WHO/PQS, P...

Hi All, PATH Senegal Office had proceeded last year a field evaluation of Sure Chill’s long-term passive device for the use of cold storage of vaccines in Senegal and provides important feedback in terms of thermal performance, end-user inputs, and perceptions at the Ministry of Health of the potential impact of the device on vaccine storage and availability in Senegal. Please find the study report by clicking on the following link:

Happy new year all, We are happy to announce that the latest version of the Total Cost of Ownership tool for cold chain equipment (v1.3) is now available to download and use. The latest version has a few minor changes to the presentation of data as well as the latest PQS pre-qualified equipment as of December 2016. Please download the latest version (in English or French) for the most up to date products and pricing. http://www.path.org/publications/detail.php?i=2576 I...

Dear TechNet Colleagues, PATH is seeking a Program Officer, Vaccine Cold Chain Technologies to join our Devices and Tools team in Geneva. I am hoping that you know a highly capable candidate for this role. Reporting to the PATH supply systems team leader in Seattle as well as the WHO PQS lead in Geneva, the Program Officer will contribute technical and project management expertise to WHO and the working group in efforts to improve the quality of cold chain equipment, assess eq...

A well-functioning supply chain often goes unnoticed. People rarely talk about fully stocked shelves at the store or on-time delivery of a package. It’s the interruptions to the supply chain that get noticed. As they say, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. These days, immunization supply chains (iSC)—the network of staff, equipment, vehicles, and data needed to get vacc...

Hello all, Microarray patches (MAPs) are under development for delivering vaccine into the skin. The technology has exciting potential for application to immunization programs. PATH is looking for input from experts in low- and middle-income country immunization programs about the feasibility of MAPs to facilitate immunization, especially for novel delivery scenarios like self-administration of vaccine at home, as well as more traditional immunization settings in LMICs. We hav...

PATH has been collaborating with Vietnam National EPI to pilot the Digital Immunization Registry in one district in a Southern province under Optimize Project since 2012. In 2014, this system was expanded in all 164 Commune Health Centers in that province. It can help to reduce workload burden, increase data accuracy and more importantly increase on-time vaccination rates. This intervention has been awarded the Health Innovation Award, a partnership between GSK and Save the Children in 2015. ...

Dose per Container Partnership (DPCP)
The issue: Multi-dose containers are used to offer lower prices, higher supply volumes, and minimize cold chain storage and distribution requirements. As new, more expensive, vaccines are introduced in multi-dose presentations, maximizing the use of every dose in a container increases in importance. HCWs need to be more strategic about when to open a container; diligent about how they care for open containers, and potentia...

In cooperation with the Uganda Ministry of Health, PATH recently conducted a pilot study to document equipment failures in the Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunization cold chain. Due to our use of purposeful sampling to locate a subset of failed cold chain equipment in Uganda, conclusions about predicted failures cannot be drawn from our study report. However, after learning of the failures, one manufacturer (B. Medical) has agreed to replace the equipment assessed.

Earlier this month, the Dose Per Container Partnership (DPCP) project was launched. This Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project is implemented by JSI and partners (PATH, Agence de Médecine Préventive (AMP), Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), HERMES modelling team and the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) / Johns Hopkins University). The project will help identify evidence needed to support better-informed decision making related to the trade-offs between cost and hea...

Dear TechNet Colleagues,   I would like to share with you a report on our latest cold chain maintenance investigation in Mozambique: "Why Fridges Fail Part 2: RTM Data for Maintenance". We are beginning to document how remote temperature monitoring data and dashboards can be used by maintenance technicians to significantly improve cold chain performance. This assessment follows up on the randomized control trial conducted in 2014-2015 with Village Reach, PATH, ...

Hi all, I just wrote a blog on PATH's DefeatDD.org called "Getting to 'Mars' with immunization delivery," which I thought might be of interest! I really enjoyed the recent blockbuster movie,The Martian. Andas a vaccine advocate supporting PATH's advocacy for stronger immunization supply chains project, I drew...

On day 4 of the TechNet Conference, I facilitated a roundtable discussion on what it takes to generate political will for supply chain improvements. At each table, participants shared their experiences generating political will and discussed in detail what it took to achieve meaningful change. Below are their observations, grouped into like categories. I am sharing this to remind TechNet subscribers of all the ways in which they can influence political will for supply chain improvem...

VaxTrak in Vietnam VaxTrak helps health workers keep track of vaccine stock. In 2011, the Vietnamese National Expanded Programme on Immunization introduced VaxTrak in the provinces of Phu Tho, Quang Tri, and Ben Tre. This short video shows how VaxTrak works and examines the impact it has had. [youtube]zbYuN9OXV4c[/youtube] Logistimo in South Sudan Logistimo is a cloud-based logistics management information system that can help immunization health workers keep track of vaccine stock. In May ...

Building on the energy and excitement around this week’s International Rotavirus Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand, PATH is pleased to announce the launch of its new rotavirus vaccine access and delivery website and rotavirus advocacy and communications toolkit – two essential resources to help accelerate the financially sustainable introduction and implementation of rotavirus vaccines around the world. Check these resources out at

Dear Sir,Based on the PATH report, we must immediately demand from DCGI office or GOI for use of IPV through Intradermal Route as well, otherwise people would be cheated as they have been with Rabies vaccine. Though I disagree with the report on one point that is a device is required for effective delivery of vaccine as this can be done with needle and syringe as well in India as we are doing with BCG/ ARV. also I disagree with the report that the needle syringe method would cost more, especiall...

Thanks Julian. It really helped. I stress so much on anti freezing the H1N1 vaccine during my country wide lectures that I needed to be sure of my claims. Frankly it would have been better for a H1N1 vccine without VVM to be freeze resistant, as opertaionally it is much easier for vaccinators in countries like ours to keep a vaccine close to ice and hence close to 0 or below than to keep it close to +2-+8C. Thanks again Best regards...

The Advanced Immunization Management (AIM) e-Learning website recently launched a new module to help decision-making on rotavirus vaccine introduction. The module provides comprehensive information from basic disease characteristics through immunization session planning; this interactive online tool is primarily aimed at immunization program managers but will also be useful for country program officers, medical providers, public health educators, and public health managers. Developed by PATH...

by Joanie Robertson, Technical Officer, PATH

In March 2009, six companies submitted designs to PATH in response to its Battery-Free Solar Refrigerator Challenge. Product designs that meet desired specifications will receive financial assistance to cover the cost of third-party testing required for consideration under the World Health Organization's