Assessing the Feasibility of Drone‐Mediated Vaccine Delivery: An Exploratory Study

These findings signify the potential for the drone-based medical supply deliveries across confined and controlled environment conditions. This study provides the insights that there is no environmental impact such as humidity, temperature, wind etc on the drone and no impact on vibrations on the physical integrity and leakage of the dummy vaccine vials. There were few regulatory barriers that required special approvals from concerned authorities. The study was not designed to assess for cost-effectiveness, also it was conducted in defined geography so all sorties were VLOS. Study has various limitations such as using simulated vaccine vials, regulatory barriers, operational barriers etc. Conducting the study in a controlled environment at IIT Kanpur limits generalizability. In spite of these limitations this study provides valuable insights and may explore a diverse environment that can help in strengthening health services especially in difficult terrains.