India is currently reviving from the threat of th esecondwave of Covid-19 with reportedly an effective mass vaccination drive. Another vaccine is on the way to enter the list of Covid-19 vaccines, which can proveto a game-changer for India to tackle the third wave of the pandemic.
A ‘thermotolerant’ or ‘warm vaccine,’ is being developedby Mynvax start-up, incubated by the Indian Institute of Science’s Society for Innovationand Development, that can benefit India to ramp up the vaccination drive tocurb the spread of the third wave of Covid-19.
"The vaccine can be stored at room temperature (30degrees Celsius), which enables the government to scale-up its distribution,"said the manufacturing unit.
In India, jabs of Covishield and Covaxin are provided tothe public along with several others. However, these vaccines require coldchain storage capacities. Before kicking off the vaccination drive, the GoI,strengthened its cold storage capacities, to safely provide temperature-sensitivejabs to the public.
The vaccines available now are required to be transportedand distributed between 2 degree Celsius and 8 degree Celsius, called the coldchain. The WHO has said that most Covid-19 vaccines, even those in development,need to be refrigerated at temperatures considerably below 0 degree Celsius.
Notably, India is a country with warm temperatures, and avaccine that is tolerant of warm temperatures could help escalate access of thejabs to the public.
According to the scientists who developed the Mynvaxvaccine can be stored at 100 degree Celsius for 90 minutes, at 70 degreeCelsius for nearly 16 hours, and 37 degree Celsius for more than a month.
Julien Potet, policy adviser (vaccines) of Médecins SansFrontières’ Access Campaign told BBC in a report that such a vaccine “can beparticularly helpful for mass vaccination campaigns when hundreds of thousandsof vaccine doses need to be transported to several vaccination points within ashort period".
Notably, the vaccine in mice sera (blood samples) showed efficacyagainst Covid-19 variants of concern, including the Delta variant.
The firm has now also signed an agreement to raise $4.2million (31 crores) in a Series A round of funding headed by Accel to bring the‘thermotolerant’ Covid vaccine to market.
How it will help India break the chain of transmission?
Though India’s vaccine cold storage capacity is one ofthe world’s largest, at approximately 40 million tonnes, it fails to meet theinternational hygiene standards. However, vaccines can readily lose theirefficacy when exposed to higher temperatures, due to which is required to beprotected from accidental freezing during transport as well as interruptions inthe cold chain caused by excessive heat.
If the warm vaccine gets nod to administer in India, itwill prove to be a boon for the millions of frontline and healthcare workersinvolved in all parts of the vaccine drive.
Walk-in freezers, ice-lined refrigerators, refrigeratedtrucks, coolant packs such as dry ice, and cold boxes are used to store andkeep vaccines chilled during last-mile distribution, which would not be neededwith such a vaccine.