London, UK: Cold chain experts have warned again of the challenges of delivering the new Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, in terms of the demand for cold boxes, dry ice and the costs of distribution.
Cold Chain Federation chief executive Shane Brennan told BBC Radio WM that because the vaccine needs to be kept at up to minus 80C, normal temperature-controlled vehicles and warehousing could not be used.
Instead, the vaccine needs to be put in hermetically sealed boxes and packed with dry ice for 5-7 days while it moves by air freight across the world.
“You can’t use a vehicle or a warehouse to contain that temperature. Most of my members who have frozen food or medicine in warehouses are operating at minus 20C or minus 25C so you can see there’s a huge difference.”
Brennan stressed that other vaccines, such as the Oxford/Astrazeneca one, will only require ordinary fridge-style temperatures and this would cut distribution costs.
Richard Wilding, professor of supply chain logistics at Cranfield School of Management, said: “The chill chain for most foods is set up for minus 4C, about what the flu jab is stored at, while the cold chain for frozen products is typically minus 25C, with warehouses and trucks capable of those temperatures. There’s plenty of infrastructure but it would require scaling up for lower temperatures.”
The lack of availability of dry ice could also be an issue. Currently, Pfizer is planning to ship its vaccines in 1,000 batches placed in 5,000 doses in a single insulated box that requires considerable amount of dry ice. Insulated box manufacturers say that the UK might hit a bottleneck attempting to get enough dry to handle the volume of vaccine required.
Some companies have already been providing insulated boxes to distribute the vaccines needed for other viruses, such as the Ebola virus. In Africa the World Health Organisation (WHO) used low-cost insulated boxes, with simple re-usable -650C ice packs filled with aqueous Phase Change Material (PCM), manufactured in the UK by PCM Products. These ice packs can be recharged and used multiple times, hence eliminating the need for dry ice.
England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said he had been reassured on issues such as whether there was sufficient refrigeration capacity, whether transport systems were adequate and if there were enough needles and syringes.
“An absolute army of people have been working on this for months behind the scenes, quietly,” he said.
