Well-preserved vaccines to ensure their effectiveness

It is a hot afternoon at the Tamare clinic, in the Mara municipality of Zulia state. Inside the small primary care center there is a lot of activity: a large group of people, including children of different ages, wait in the chairs distributed throughout the place to receive medical attention and, in many cases, to be vaccinated. 

Among those waiting is two-year-old Deivi, who goes with her mother, Yubelin, to this health center that has been supported by UNICEF to strengthen maternal and child care, and which is especially important because it is the only health center that operates in the Tamare parish to serve more than 6,700 families from 34 surrounding communities. Most of them belong to the Wayuu indigenous ethnic group. Deivi is known very well in the outpatient clinic, and all the health personnel talk about him with great emotion, because his birth was the first they attended in those facilities.

Both Deivi and Yubelín are happy with the attention they have received that afternoon. The communities served at the outpatient clinic now have better access to immunization services thanks to the installation of a solar-powered vaccine refrigerator there, which ensures that vaccines are stored at the appropriate temperature to ensure their immunological properties.

This afternoon, Deivi received a booster dose of the polio vaccine, but her mother says that at this local health center, she has had access to all the vaccines provided for in the immunization schedule. "The staff at the outpatient clinic takes care of us very well and provides all the support to people who need it," says Yubelín.

This clinic is one of the 306 throughout the country that received refrigerators of this type and that UNICEF has installed throughout Venezuela, in coordination with the authorities and thanks to the contribution of international donors, for the strengthening of the cold chain, as the series of procedures for storage and distribution of vaccines that must be complied with to guarantee their effectiveness is known.

Thanks to the cold chain, it is possible to keep the temperature constant, which is indicated so that the vaccines preserve their properties to generate the immune response against diseases. These temperatures can vary between +2 and +8 degrees Celsius, when it comes to preservation, and to -25 degrees Celsius, when freezing is required.

To continue ensuring the quality of the vaccines, in addition to the 176 solar refrigerators distributed since 2022, another 130 similar equipment that recently arrived in the country and are being installed in outpatient clinics in vulnerable and remote communities were added. The fact that they work through a solar-powered panel allows the immunization doses to be kept at the right temperature and protected from electricity failures or fluctuations, with environmentally friendly technology.

"The cold chain is a fundamental pillar to ensure the health of children in Venezuela," says Melvin Morán, Chief of Health and Nutrition of UNICEF Venezuela. "This allows us to ensure that we arrive with quality vaccines, with their recommended efficacy and potency and with the international standards with which we hope to reach all communities."

Temperature checks should be conducted at production sites and should be closely monitored throughout transportation, distribution, and delivery at the sites where vaccines will be administered. Hence, Morán explains, efforts to strengthen the cold chain in the country have been made at different levels, both at the central level and at the regional and local levels.

At the central level, UNICEF has contributed to the renovation of three of the department stores that receive the vaccines that arrive in the country, Morán adds. As part of this cooperation, it has supported the installation of six new cold rooms in the National Epidemiology Warehouse, the place that receives the largest number of vaccines that arrive in the territory and that must be safeguarded immediately.

The strengthening of the cold chain at the national level has also included support for the recovery of the Jipana warehouse, located in Charallave, Miranda state, the largest in the country and one of the most important in Latin America in the public system, inside which a robotic system operates that allows automation in the handling of inputs.  It has an approximate capacity of 1,232 pallets, which allows it to store up to 294 million doses of vaccines. 

With UNICEF's support, it was possible to restore the operation of the entire complex, including the replacement of compressors and ducts and the electrical system, the installation of continuous temperature monitoring systems, the automation of doors, and the insulation of the ceilings, as well as the rehabilitation of the robotic system.

However, it should not be forgotten that successful vaccination rests equally heavily on regional and local capacities. For this reason, UNICEF has also supported the adaptation of 13 regional warehouses, including the provision of 12 cold rooms and 24 generators in the regions to ensure the continuous supply of electricity, as well as preventive and corrective maintenance of this equipment throughout the country.

Those who work in healthcare centers are also a key piece for the success of vaccination, so this new stage of strengthening the cold chain also includes the training of more than 650 health personnel for the handling of the equipment, in addition to the more than 1,584 trained since 2023.

The improvements in the health service related to the strengthening of the cold chain will reach 1.9 million children under 6 years of age and 412 thousand children over 6 years of age, who will have access to vaccines with assured quality, in addition to more than 394 thousand pregnant women and 32 indigenous communities.