Controlant’s technology is tracking and monitoring the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines on behalf of Pfizer, during shipment, from origin sites to their arrival at government preferred channel and designated vaccination locations. The real-time technology will help prevent temperature and other deviations impacting the legitimate supply chain while monitoring and automating quality and logistics processes involved in the vaccine distribution.

In addition, Controlant is working with the Center for Disease Control (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Administration as part of Operation Warp Speed, to provide global on-site monitoring of the mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at U.S. Government preferred channel and designated vaccination locations. Our real-time technology and monitoring and response services will help prevent temperature escalations that can impact the integrity and safety of the vaccines.

Controlant’s Cold Chain as a Service® technology consists of GSM locational tracking data loggers that capture environmental information, including time, temperature, and light events, and send the information in real-time to Controlant’s secure software platform. Designated stakeholders can view live temperature and location data on demand. This enables stakeholders to make fast, actionable decisions to protect vaccine integrity.

As an example, if the temperature inside a thermal shipper, where the Controlant loggers are placed, goes outsideof, or is trending toward going outside of limits, in accordance with the most current specifications published by a vaccine provider, alerts are sent to designated site contacts by email, mobile text message, and telephone call from a Controlant service center, which has been established solely to support the Operation Warp Speed (OWS) efforts.

Once the vaccines have been depleted, the reusable thermal shipper and data loggers are sent back to designated origin sites to be re-filled, inspected and placed back in service.

The temperature-controlled supply chain ("cold chain") involves the transportation of temperature-sensitive products along a supply chain through refrigerated packaging methods, as well as logistics planning in order to protect the integrity of these deliveries.  Cold chain products can include products that must be kept at room temperature (typically, 2-8°C), low temperatures, dry ice temperatures, and even cryogenic temperatures (typically, around -200°C). Cold chain products include pharmaceuticals, vaccines,and other life sciences products, food & beverage products, and over the counter products like cosmetics and toothpaste. A break in the cold chain, which often occurs during handoff points, can make products ineffective or unsafe. . 

The cold chain control tower includes visibility, analytics, and responsiveness to help mitigate risk, reduce waste, and drive long-term, strategic decisions. Controlant’s reusable, real-time data loggers provide live supply chain data to keep designated stakeholders apprised of issues that might impact vaccine integrity. Data is automatically sent to dashboards where high-level and site-specific data pertaining to vaccine temperature and quality conditions can be viewed, in addition to broader trends that require attention. The dashboard analytics show temperature excursion rates and measure other key performance metrics, which can be used to make process improvements and help prevent rejected products. Controlant’s 24/7 monitoring and response service center facilitates proactive corrective action with designated sites, clinics, and other locations to help prevent temperature deviations which might lead to vaccine waste.

Vaccines are precious cargo. They require consistent, controlled environments from the time they leave the manufacturer to the time they are administered, in order to maintain integrity, viability, and effectiveness. This is important from both a quality, safety, compliance, and financial perspective.

COVID-19 has fostered an industry-wide, problem-solving mindset, as shown through the Pfizer control tower implementation, which can serve as a new precedent for how the pharmaceutical & life sciences and food & beverages industries can operate moving forward to help ensure vaccines and other precious cargo are safely delivered, reduce loss and mitigate rejections of product. The control tower approach enables greater visibility, efficiency, responsiveness, and centralization.

Cold chain control tower technology has enabled many parties in the supply chain to collaborate and work together quickly and effectively to help solve this global challenge.