Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) in collaboration with the (ACES) and the University of Birmingham have organised a vaccine cold-chain symposium starting October 9 to October 12 in Kigali.
Under the theme, "Designing the vaccine cold chain for future resilience and sustainability for Africa”, the symposium intends to demonstrate the preservation of vaccines through the cold chain and ensure that they can be able to reach beneficiaries in their right conditions.
This seminar is also designed to nurture partnerships, share insights, and shape the future of vaccine development.
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According to Dr Eric Remera, the Research Innovation and Data Science Centre Division Manager at RBC, vaccines are one of the first prevention programmes to avert diseases.
Remera stressed that the main problem that vaccines face is poor management. "They need to be preserved in the freezers to avoid defects.”
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"According to world statistics, 25 per cent of the vaccines may have defected because they were not maintained in the required temperature,” Remera said, adding, "We are meeting experts from Rwanda and the University of Birmingham to explore how we can use the vaccine but also plan for the best cold-chain management.”
"Today, more than 98 per cent of children are vaccinated in Rwanda, but we want to make sure that no vaccines are lost,” Remera stated.
He also mentioned that Rwanda is on track to produce vaccines in the near future. He emphasised the existing national vaccination program, which includes a large storage facility that serves all hospitals. Additionally, these hospitals have cold rooms to store the vaccines.
Morris Kayitare, the general manager of ACES, noted that without a cold chain, it is hard to ensure that the vaccines distributed will be effective or still contain their right properties.
Kayitare noted that Covid-19 highlighted a significant disparity between the availability and distribution of vaccinations. Acquiring the vaccines posed a challenge, and delivering them presented another obstacle.
"Although Rwanda was more prepared than most countries in Africa, in some cases we needed to use helicopters among other ways to deliver vaccines. However, since we are yet to start manufacturing our vaccinations, we shall have a facility to deliver them.”
The primary objective of the vaccine symposium is to provide a platform for officials, researchers, healthcare professionals, and experts from Rwanda and the United Kingdom to discuss and exchange knowledge on various aspects of vaccines, with a particular focus on vaccine research and cold-chain management.
The symposium seeks to share the latest advancements in vaccine research and development, discuss strategies for improving vaccine distribution and cold-chain logistics, and promote collaboration between Rwandan and British institutions in the field of healthcare and vaccines.
Additionally, it also displays innovative solutions and technologies in vaccine storage and transportation and strengthens global efforts to ensure equitable access to vaccines.