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TORONTO – With a second major pharmaceutical company announcing promising trial results for a potential COVID-19 vaccine, Canadian companies are bracing for the logistical challenges of storing millions of doses in hyper-cold temperatures.
Guelph, Ontario-based Danby, a manufacturer of compact appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, microwaves and air conditioners, will soon announce the production of a new line of -80C freezers, the CEO and owner of the company told CTVNews.ca. Jim Estill company a telephone interview.
He said the company is finalizing the specs and will officially announce the new line next week. He said full production will take about 120 days, “which is out of line with the timing of the need.”
Estill predicts that hospitals, pharmacies and courier hubs across Canada will require super-cold storage to handle approximately 70 million vials of vaccines that require two doses for each recipient.
360 Medical, which supplies cold storage equipment to laboratories, clinics, hospitals and pharmacies, is seeing a “massive increase in demand” for -80 C freezers, President Paul Greco told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview.
The Schomberg, Ontario distributor is receiving inquiries from doctors’ offices, hospitals and the Red Cross, he said.
Freezers range from around $ 8,500 to $ 20,000, but Greco says even the small units can hold around 20,000 servings.
360 Medical supplier Haier Biomedical, based in China, reassured that the supply of cold storage equipment will not be an issue, Greco said.
Moderna made headlines on Monday with its reports that preliminary clinical trial data of its vaccine candidate shows 94.5% effectiveness in preventing COVID-19.
Last week, competitor Pfizer Inc. announced similar results for its vaccine candidate.
Both companies are developing what are called mRNA vaccines, a new technology that does not include any of the coronaviruses themselves, but instead contains a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the virus. Both require cold storage, but the requirements vary.
“MRNA vaccines are essentially brand new, but they are the vaccines of the future. The need now is for the coronavirus, but it will also be used for other vaccines, ”Estill said.
Moderna and Pfizer both said they would seek permission for emergency use from US regulators within weeks.
The news provides some hope as COVID-19 cases increase in Canada, the United States, and many parts of the world. But the challenge of producing and distributing a future vaccine to millions of people in this large country with a highly dispersed population looms.
It doesn’t matter that all countries of the world will compete for the supply of vaccines at the same time.
Moderna president Dr Stephen Hoge said Monday that “many vaccines” will be needed to meet global demand.
Canada has signed agreements with seven vaccine developers, including Pfizer and Moderna, to reserve millions of doses of approved vaccines.
Purolator CEO John Ferguson said Canada has the supply chain infrastructure needed to handle the challenge, and his company is also ready to provide a vaccine to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and care facilities in long term.
“We are used to shipping across Canada to every corner, every city, every suburb and every rural area,” he said in a telephone interview from Toronto.
“This is on a large scale, but I’m confident Canada is in good shape.”
Extremely low temperature storage will be required at central distribution centers, where vaccine vials can remain for days or weeks. But during the delivery of the “last mile” courier that Purolator specializes in, temperatures can be maintained by ice packs, dry ice or other packaging, Ferguson said.
The delivery system is already in place to manage flu vaccines and other immunizations, along with a wide range of time-sensitive cancer therapies and other drugs, Ferguson said.
The distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine will build on that experience, with Purolator adding dedicated workers, equipment, and trucks.
“This will require governments, manufacturers and the supply chain to work together to make sure it’s done right.”
Danby, which has operated in Canada since 1947 and also owns a subsidiary in the United States, launched a medical refrigerator last year and has ramped up its engineering since the emergence of COVID-19, Estill said.
“We are pulling out all the stops. It’s a top priority for the company, “said Estill, who has owned Danby since 2015.
“This can have a very significant impact on the world. A vaccine is not good if it cannot be distributed or stored “.
Danby is also involved in ventilator construction in partnership with Canadian medical device manufacturer Baylis Medical, and has built approximately 6,500 of the projected 10,000. The company also donated 500 UV light air purifiers to the Toronto District School Board.
An ongoing challenge of COVID-19 response-oriented manufacturing is securing necessary components, which are in short supply, Estill said.
Danby’s first hyper-cold freezer will be about 10 cubic feet, or about half the size of a large consumer chest freezer, and will cost C $ 10,000. Those sizes will easily ship and plug into a regular wall outlet, Estill said, but future production will include a range of sizes.
“The complexity of building a -80 ° C freezer is enormous. It’s not just a freezer at all, but we produce half a million freezers a year, so we can do it. “
To compare how cold it is, Health Canada recommends setting home freezers to -18 ° C or lower to keep food safe. Dry ice, which is solid carbon dioxide, also freezes at a temperature of -80 C. Touching objects frozen at those temperatures with your bare hands for more than about a second can cause frostbite that may require hospital treatment.
Pfizer Canada spokeswoman Christina Antoniou said in a statement provided to CTVNews.ca that the company is “urgently working” with governments and public health authorities to “determine the logistics of vaccine distribution in Canada, pending regulatory approval “.
He said the company will manufacture a vaccine at multiple sites in the US and Europe and ship on a “just in time” system.
“For Canada, our distribution approach will be to ship largely from our production sites directly to the point of use.”
Pfizer will use dry ice to maintain storage temperatures for up to 15 days, along with GPS-enabled thermal sensors in each “thermal shipper” that can be monitored at every stage of delivery.
“These GPS-enabled devices will enable Pfizer to proactively prevent unwanted deviations and take action before they occur,” he wrote.
Depending on their formulation, vaccines may have different storage requirements.
Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine candidate can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures (2C to 8C) for up to 30 days and -20C for up to six months. It is also stable at room temperature for up to 12 hours, the company data has shown.
Pfizer’s candidate will require a long-term deep freeze, the company says. This has led to a rush to ultra-cold freezers in the United States, but is raising concerns that rural hospitals will not be able to afford the units, which cost up to $ 15,000 each.
Medical news site STAT says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have advised state health departments not to purchase ultra-cold freezers, with the idea that other vaccines with less demanding storage requirements will soon be available.
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