Talks with Luxembourg firm on cold chain enter next stage

NEW DELHI: Two top officials of the Luxembourg-headquartered B Medical Systems will arrive in New Delhi over the weekend to initiate talks with senior government officials and scientists on setting up a cold chain for Covid-19 vaccines that will be used in the country, people familiar with the matter said. The firm is looking at setting up a plant in the country with its Indian partners to supply specialised refrigerated vaccine transportation boxes and freezers.

B Medical Systems’ chief executive officer Luc Provost and deputy chief executive officer Jesal Doshi are arriving in the country on Saturday and will hold meetings with top officials of Niti Aayog and the ministries of health and external affairs over the next two days beginning Sunday, the people cited above added on condition of anonymity.

They will then travel to Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad for meetings with the three companies that are working on India’s top candidates for the Covid vaccine: Hyderabad’s Bharat

Biotech, Pune’s Serum Institute of India and Ahmedabad’s Zydus Biotech Park.

B Medical Systems, which makes cold storage facilities that can store vaccines at minus 80 degree Celsius, intends to eventually build a plant in Gujarat. But this will take time and in the interim, the company is expected to import boxes that can be used to transport vaccines as soon as production starts.

HT reported on November 28 that India could take the help of B Medical Systems to create a cold chain for the vaccine following PM Modi’s conversation with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel. It was the latter who offered help to set up a vaccine cold chain via B Medical Systems.

A cold chain is counted among the biggest logistical challenges of reaching the coronavirus vaccine to people across the country.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shots, the first vaccine cleared for use by any government, need to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 F) or below. Moderna’s vaccine has to be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius for shipping and longer-term storage of up to six months, but it can be kept at regular refrigeration temperatures for up to 10 days, according to a Reuters report.