Until the late 1980s Postal systems were used extensively for the
distribution on vaccines in European countries. During the late
1980s,supported by WHO, I helped carry out Cold Chain Monitor studies in
over half of the European countries. These all showed that the postal
system is unsuitable for the distribution of heat labile products. For
example in one European country 69.7% of the vaccine shipments sent by
post to the provinces were exposed to heat (recorded A or greater on the
CCM) and 12% had been sufficiently exposed that the vaccine was probably
spoiled. This study also found that it could take the post anything up to
a week to transport vaccine from the capital to the provincial capital, in
other countires the time taken cound be up to two weeks. In another
country the cost of uncontrolled use of the postal service was shown to
increase the cost of distribution fivefold. The UK used to use the postal
service but abandoned it for contracted out distribution because of the
unreliability of the postal service. In Hungary, some of the highest
temperatures recorded were during winter, showing that the effect of
central heating in postal sorting offices was more damaging than the
summer's ambient temperatures.
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Anthony Battersby
FBA Health Systems Analysts
FBA@compserve.com
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