YLE: Finnish Company Facing a Jackpot – this device saved Covid vaccines from spoiling
This blog post is based on the article originally written by Sanna Savela in Finnish and published by YLE, the national Broadcasting Company of Finland. The original article can be found here: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11744244
Early in January 2021, YLE reported of a device monitoring the last mile of the covid vaccine cold chain alerted the staff on a temperature breach. In this particular case, the healthcare station in Northern Finland only had hours to act before the vaccines would spoil. However, thanks to the alert, the vaccines could be injected in time.
Vaccine monitoring has drastically increased the demand for the solution. As Logmore CEO Janne Juhala told YLE in a recent interview, “We’ve received a huge amount of inquiries from all around the world. If things go as expected, we may ship hundreds of thousands of loggers.”
Logmore products are manufactured mainly by subcontractors in Finland and Latvia. With the rapid increase in demand, we decided built a new manufacturing line in Jyväskylä in mere weeks to answer the growing demand.
The Jyväskylä manufacturing line is expected to only be an emergency solution for a situation where the company receives a large order. The company already gets enough orders to warrant for five employees working in the new location.
“I see the Länsi-Pohja healthcare district’s situation as a concrete proof that the loggers are necessary”, says Juhala.
At the moment the devices are being used to track the journey of thousands of vaccines in Finland, Argentina, Portugal, and New Zealand.
Measuring below zero temperatures is possible
Most of the shipments tracked with Logmore are carried in above zero temperatures. Although the covid vaccines arrive in Finland encased in dry ice, the vaccines are defrosted to refrigerator temperatures for domestic transportation.
“It’s possible, because the vaccine remains viable for five days after defrosting”, says specialist Mia Kontio of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare told YLE in a recent interview.
Minus 70 degree below Celsius (-94°F) is well within the ranges Logmore can handle. Our dry ice logger can be used in shipments using dry ice as a coolant.
The circuit board and battery don’t last long in deep freeze, but thanks to the external probe, they can be left outside the box."
The main use cases for the loggers are monitoring pharmaceutical and food shipments. Thanks to the recent upsurge in ecommerce and home deliveries, a logger might travel all the way to a consumer’s house attached to a package. “We’ve just surpassed the milestone of a hundred million measurements. Our devices have been used to secure over ten thousand shipments to date”, says Janne Juhala.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers responsible for product quality during shipping
The pharmaceutical manufacturer is responsible for maintaining sub-zero temperatures on the way to Finland.
Juhala tells YLE that the company is negotiating with central operators of the vaccine distribution chain, for instance pharmaceutical and logistics companies and authorities. “Inquiries cover the entire distribution chain all the way from manufacturing to the location of use.”
Data collection equipment is required in pharmaceutical shipments
In Finland, all healthcare districts use some sort of loggers to monitor their shipments. Of the eleven districts, multiple have opted to use Logmore. As reported by Yle, the Länsi-Pohja district recently managed to save a batch of vaccines from spoiling thanks to QR loggers.
“The temperature of all medicine is monitored during transportation. It’s completely normal self-monitoring done by pharmacies. We actively use two models of loggers. One of them is this one read by a QR code”, hospital pharmacist Riikka Vänskä told Yle in a recent interview.
Yle also asked Mika Rämet, the professor in charge of the Finnish Vaccine Research Center his opinion on the matter. While Rämet did not comment on the demand for Logmore loggers, he admitted believing that an effective shipment monitoring would be welcome.
This blog post is based on the article originally written by Sanna Savela in Finnish and published by YLE, the national Broadcasting Company of Finland. The original article can be found here: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11744244
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