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摘要

Immunisation is a pain, and not just for those lucky enough to get a shot in the arm. Vaccines themselves, which are made largely out of protein, have to be refrigerated to prevent them going off. Keeping vaccines at the right temperature on their long journey from the factory in, say, Europe to a village in sub-Saharan Africa is a costly and complex business. Experts estimate that almost half of all vaccine doses are wasted because of temperature damage, which is cold comfort to the families of the 2m children in poor countries who die every year from measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.