China’s recent crackdown on its tech industry, which has wiped billions of dollars off its economy, drastically reducing the fortune of its billionaires, has an undertone intent with a volume louder than the seeming regulatory concerns buoying it.

Months have passed since the shakeup in China’s tech industry, which started with the suspension of the highly anticipated Ant group’s mega IPO, and spread rapidly to many other players in the sector including the edtech, took root.

A report by CNBC says that beyond what everyone has thought, China’s war against its tech industry has little to do with regulatory awakening and more to do with the desire for equal distribution of wealth.

Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized at a finance and economic meeting Tuesday the need to support moderate wealth for all — or the idea of “common prosperity,” which analysts have said is behind the latest regulatory crackdown on tech companies.

Significantly, the meeting was the first Xi led publicly since a two-week quiet period. Chinese leaders typically spend early August in secret political discussions at a resort in Beidaihe, about a three hours’ drive east of Beijing.

The meeting called for the “reasonable adjustment of excessive incomes and encouraging high income groups and businesses to return more to society,” state media said in Chinese, according to a CNBC translation.

Leaders also specified common prosperity does not mean prosperity for just a few and is not a form of equal distribution, state media said. Rather, progress toward the goal would occur in stages, the report said.

Delivering “common prosperity” has emerged in recent months as an underlying theme of Chinese political discussion. The term is generally understood as moderate wealth for all, rather than just a few. But it remains a vague, frequently used slogan.

Yue Su, principal economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit, said in a statement she expects authorities to be pragmatic in implementation.

“Considering that raising taxes on high-income groups and capital returns may curb investment and potentially lead to capital outflows, the Chinese government will not completely ignore the impact of redistribution policies on the economy,” she said.

She added that privatization will likely slow public services such as education, care for the elderly or medical care, with authorities at the very least becoming more strict in monitoring prices and affordability.

Income inequality among China’s 1.4 billion people has increased over the last few decades. The top 10% of the population earned 41% of national income in 2015, up from 27% in 1978, according to estimates published in 2019 by Paris School of Economics professor Thomas Piketty and a team.

But the lower-earning half of the population has seen its share of national income fall to about 15%, down from about 27% in 1978.

This year, urban residents in the coastal city of Shanghai had an average per capita disposable income of 7,058 yuan ($1,091) a month, far higher than the 4,021 yuan for those in cities nationwide, and well above the 1,541 yuan for rural residents, official data showed.

The Chinese government has claimed it eliminated extreme poverty in the country as of the end of last year. That marked a first step to fulfilling the longer-term pledges of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in July.

“Elaborating on the ‘common prosperity’ objective, China has affirmed its effort to rebalance the economy toward labor, tackling social inequality with redistribution, social welfare, taxes and inclusive education,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a report distributed Wednesday, noting a target — “to increase the middle-income group’s share of the economy.”

Based on the top economic policy meeting, the analysts said they expect additional measures to support economic growth, such as a cut to the reserve requirement ratio.

Data for July showed China’s economic growth slowed more than analysts’ expected, including figures on spending by individual Chinese consumers.

However, economists have noted that growth is not as important for Beijing this year as tackling long-term problems such as a buildup of debt and risks in the vast real estate market.

“Finance is the core of the modern economy, with ties to development and security,” CNBC’s translation of state media said, citing Xi’s remarks at Tuesday’s meeting. “It must follow the principles of marketization and the rule of law, and coordinate the prevention and resolution of major financial risks.”

While the idea of equal distribution of wealth may seem good to many Chinese people, it poses a major economic danger for the second-largest economy in the world. The sustainability of China’s economy hangs largely on its conglomerates that are amplifying individual wealth of founders and business executives.

Experts warn that attempts to force Chinese billionaires to give up measures of their wealth will likely spook the interest of investors, who recently have found the South Asian country, a lucrative destination to plant their money.

As we prepare to put the coronavirus pandemic behind us, it’s become clear that widespread and rigorous Covid-19 vaccine programs will play a very indispensable role. Even more important, the recovery from the pandemic must be supported by large-scale use of advanced data and monitoring technologies, which can ensure that the vaccine reaches the right people at the right time, in the right conditions.

And that’s where temperature data loggers will have a critical role to play. These nifty pieces of temperature-monitoring equipment have seen a dramatic leap in technology, features, and capacity in the last few years. So, they are well-equipped to stand up to the challenge of making sure billions of doses of potent Covid-19 jabs end up safely in the hands of people around the world.

Let’s talk about temperature data loggers and why their value to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout is absolute.

The Unique Covid-19 Vaccine Cold Chain Challenges

Much has already been told about the need for certain Covid-19 vaccines to be made, shipped, and stored at ultra-cold temperatures. Perhaps the BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna variants are the two most talked-about coronavirus vaccines when it comes to the ultra-freezing storage requirement.

You see, carriers and logistics companies are well-equipped and experienced in cold supply chains of traditional vaccines like flu shots that must be stored and transported at a standard temperature range of between 2°C and 8°C. 

However, mRNA-based vaccines like the BioNTech / Pfizer are a different kettle of fish. They must be stored at extremely low temperatures between -80°C and -60°C to maintain optimal potency and efficacy. These ultra-cold conditions will keep fragile ingredients of the mRNA-based vaccines from falling apart for up to 6 months. 

But, once they’re broken out of the dry ice packs, the vaccine must be stored in a freezer at a temperature range of -25°C to -15°C for up to 14 days, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  

Even Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Covid-19 vaccine, which doesn’t require ultra-freezing storage, can be kept at average cold supply chain temperatures of between 2°C and 8°C for only up to six hours.  

No matter the kind, if vaccine batches are exposed to temperatures outside of their recommended range, the heat introduced into the freezer or storage box will break down the fragile components, rendering the vaccine ineffective and thus unusable. 

While vaccine spoilage and wastage due to inadequate temperature controls and other logistical problems are not new to the industry, the need to address the issue is now more critical than ever. After all, we cannot afford to lose more precious Covid-19 vaccines — as we’ve recently witnessed in countries like France where around 25 percent of the delivered Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine went to waste, especially now when dire vaccine shortages are being reported around the world.

Closer to home, numbers from 10 states reveal that well over 1 million Covid-19 doses have gone to waste since vaccine rollout kicked off in the U.S. According to the New York Times, the culprits for coronavirus vaccine wastage range from transportation and storage issues to equipment breakage and expiration.

It goes to show that constant monitoring of vaccine temperature and other environmental factors is crucial at every step of the vaccination process. We must keep an eye on every Covid-19 vaccine, every storage facility, every box, every refrigerator, every vaccination station, and every piece of shipping equipment.

And that’s shining the spotlight only on the Covid-19 vaccine cold supply chain. We must also consider the timely supply of all stabilizing agents, syringes, vials, and everything else that’s needed for the end-to-end vaccine rollout process.

Digital Temperature Data Loggers to the Rescue

The need for constant monitoring to ensure the vaccines are kept at ultra-cold temperatures poses a unique challenge to cold chain managers. For one, you can’t simply open the door of the cold box or freezer every time you want to check the temperatures. That would let in heat and end up degrading the fragile components of the vaccine.

That’s why everyone, from doctor’s offices to big-box pharmacies like Walgreens, has switched to automated temperature data loggers. The intelligent temperature sensors are placed inside the transport equipment or freezer to continuously keep track of vaccine temperature in transit and storage.

But temperature data collected by the loggers must be accessed and analyzed to ensure that vaccines are always in the right conditions. In the past, you’d have to use a USB flash dish or plug the data logged physically into a computer to retrieve the data so that personnel can inspect the temperature records for anomalies and cold chain breaches.

Thankfully, device companies like Dickson have come up with next-gen, cloud-based wireless cold chain data loggers. A set of these compact devices sit side by side with vaccines inside freezers or transport containers, continuously transmitting temperature data to cold chain managers, pharma companies, and clients.

According to Dickson, today’s data loggers are versatile and can be configured to not only transmit temperature data wirelessly but can also integrate with software applications for easy analysis, storage, and documentation. Some state-of-the-art digital data loggers can also double up as alarms, capable of sending out customized alerts via text, phone call, or email.

Because of the cloud connection, anyone with permission can access the monitoring data on vaccine temperature at any time, from anywhere, and using any internet-connected device, be it a computer, tablet, or mobile. Thanks to this setup, any damaging event (such as a breach of the cold chain) can be detected and quickly rectified before the vaccine starts to degrade.

Conclusion

Rolling out Covid-19 vaccinations has not been an easy walk in the park. Countries and pharmaceutical companies have to manage cold chain logistics of millions of Covid-19 jabs, all while battling widespread vaccine shortages, hesitancy, and misinformation. Data logger technology can help them ensure the successful delivery of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines by monitoring temperature every step of the way.