Celebrating the world's smartest sticker
Today members of the global health community are celebrating the success of the vaccine vial monitor—a chemically active sticker that tells health workers if a vial of vaccine has been damaged by heat. More than 100 participants representing governments, vaccine manufacturers, institutions, organizations, and donor agencies gathered at a reception at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of this important technology, which played a key role in the near-eradication of polio and enables health workers to get lifesaving vaccine out to children in remote areas of the world.
In conjunction with the reception today, WHO introduced a brief photo essay that shows how vaccine vial monitor works and how it is helping to increase the effectiveness and coverage of national immunization programs.
WHO and UNICEF also issued today a new joint policy statement urging all countries that procure vaccine to include the monitors among minimum requirements in purchase agreements. In addition, the policy statement urged all donor agencies and international nongovernmental organizations to adopt a policy that explicitly includes vaccine vial monitors as a minimum standard in every vaccine donation.
Learn more about PATH’s role in developing and introducing the vaccine vial monitor.
Posted May 3, 2007.