Asel Sartbaeva on protecting vaccines with a pinch of sand

In this episode

Vaccines save millions of lives each year but, to work, most need to be kept cold throughout their journey, from the factory where they’re made to the clinic where they’re given. This relies on what’s known as the cold chain, a global network of fridges, freezers and icepacks. The chain is not only expensive to maintain, it’s incredibly vulnerable to breaking. In low- and middle- income countries, in particular, transport delays, power cuts and equipment failures often cause vaccines to spoil before they reach the people who need them. An urgent quest in public health has been to find a way to stabilise vaccines, at room temperature, so that they no longer need this cold chain. This occurred…