Can solar fridges helping vaccinate African children work for COVID-19?

(Reuters, 31 Oct 2020) Solar-powered refrigerators are cooling vaccines in places with no grid electricity - but organising a vast cold chain for COVID-19 immunisation will be a huge logistical challenge.

Dozens of children at a clinic in North Kivu, on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), received a measles vaccine in May, made possible by a quiet revolution in refrigeration that keeps vaccines cold, even in places without reliable electric power.

The "solar direct-drive" refrigerators – plain, box-like coolers that do not require fuel or batteries - have helped boost child vaccinations in DRC's poorest rural provinces by 50% in the past year, according to global vaccine alliance Gavi.

That has helped cut child mortality in DRC to half of what it was two decades ago. More than 18 million children were vaccinated last year against a deadly measles outbreak, which has slowed dramatically in recent weeks.

Now the world is looking to launch a far bigger immunisation push once vaccines for COVID-19 become available.

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Reuters, 31 Oct 2020: Can solar fridges helping vaccinate African children work for COVID-19?