Arduino Microcontroller Equipped Thermoelectric Cooler Vaccine Carrier Design

Vaccines have become effective in protecting the health of a population. Vaccine development is a challenge, ensuring safety of the vaccine from its source until it is administered is another. One crucial part in the cold chain system is the transportation of the vaccine carriers from the health centers to poorly accessible communities. The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) Vaccine, Cold Chain and Logistics Management Manual of Operations recommends actions in order to safely deliver the vaccines with the use of WHO prequalified passive containers such as vaccine transport box and vaccine carrier. This research provides an option to vaccine carrier for use when delivering vaccines from health centers to poorly accessible communities where government health personnel are deployed to administer vaccines to newborn, bedridden, disabled and elderly with mobility issues. The use of the current vaccine carrier requires the use of at least six pieces of ice packs, trained and highly skilled health care personnel capable of manually taking, monitoring and recording vaccine temperature in the course of delivery to the vaccination site. This research output provides not only an alternative design to the vaccine carrier but also a prototype. The prototype is capable of maintaining vaccine temperature within the target range, minimizing risk of temperature damage; taking and recording of the temperature of the built-in dummy vaccine; and eliminating the opening and re-opening of the vaccine carrier’s lid in the process. The capability of the prototype in taking, monitoring and recording of the temperature was tested to last for at least a continuous 12-hour duration at a 3-second interval. The prototype can support the cold chain system requirement of temperature monitoring every 30 minutes during the delivery of vaccines from the health centers to poorly accessible communities.