For many people, the process of getting vaccinated begins and ends at some sort of health facility, where a health care worker sanitizes their arm before injecting a vaccine and sending them on their way.

But in reality, that’s just the end of the line for that vaccine. What it took to get that dose from point A to point B is a whole lot more complicated than simply ordering vaccines, having them delivered, and then having them administered — especially if they are being administered in a rural, hard-to-reach community.

A conglomerate of stakeholders are involved in the process of getting vaccine doses from a manufacturing center, to the airport, onto the ground of the receiving country, and finally to the clinics or mobile sites of local communities. It is a process that requires meticulous documentation and monitoring, rigorous logistical planning, and the mobilization of trusted community members who serve as vaccine ambassadors.

COVAX was founded in April 2020 in response to the pandemic and is a financing tool that aims to ensure equitable and fair access to COVID-19 vaccines. The initiative is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the WHO.

If countries are obtaining COVID-19 vaccine doses through COVAX or the World Bank, the order details go to UNICEF, which manages vaccine procurement and transportation. Here, officials work through the logistics of obtaining doses from manufacturers and finding flights that can transport the doses to their respective countries.

For many vaccines, including the ones developed for COVID-19, the distribution of doses requires a “cold chain” to keep the supplies in their recommended temperature range. Cold chain infrastructure enables vaccines to stay potent from the time they are manufactured until the moment of vaccination. Pfizer, for instance, has developed temperature-controlled thermal shippers that use dry ice to keep its vaccines cold. These shippers can maintain the recommended temperature conditions for up to 10 days unopened, allowing the doses to make the journey from a manufacturing center in one country to the airport in another.

Read the full article about vaccine transport by Kristine Liao at Global Citizen.