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Because matter. The wave of hope spread across the world on Tuesday with the announcement of a vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the American Pfizer and the German Biontech. In Europe, the hypothesis of the first vaccinations “in the first quarter of 2021” has even already been advanced by the EU.
However, the American-German product, whether it is “90% effective”, still raises several questions.
The challenge of storing it at -70 ° C
The vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is based on a very innovative technology, which has never been used in real life before. It involves injecting the body with strands of genetic instructions called messenger RNA, which tell our cells what to do to fight the new coronavirus.
However, these messenger RNA vaccines – a very fragile molecule – must be stored at very low temperatures: -70 ° C for Pfizer / BioNTech. And this can cause a big problem: how to transport a product around the world at such a temperature?
The major logistics and aircraft operators have solutions to overcome this, in particular thanks to dry ice: it is solidified carbon dioxide. A delicate material, because if it passes into a gaseous state it becomes dangerous, for example for the crew of an airplane. Fedex says it has obtained permission from civil aviation to carry it in bulk aboard its Boeing 767s and 777s.
BioNTech, however, ensured that once extracted from the special freezers where it was to be stored, the vaccine could be stored for five days in a conventional refrigerator, between 2 and 8 ° C. Hospitals and clinics will therefore not need to purchase special equipment.
How to distribute billions of doses around the world?
Pfizer has already made progress on this issue, including the creation of special shipping boxes, 40x40x56 cm. Each box will have 975 vials containing 5 doses or 4,875 doses.
In the United States, the group has a filling plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Six trucks will leave the site each day to deliver doses to air carriers (Fedex, UPS, DHL …) and deliver quickly: one or two days in the US and three days around the world, Pfizer says. 20 daily cargo flights will ship future doses around the world. In Europe, a sister plant of the group is located in Puurs, Belgium.
At destination, each box can only be opened briefly twice a day. “This will suit large vaccination centers,” said Julie Swann, a pandemic response expert at NC State University. This vaccine will not be suitable for doctors’ offices or pharmacies. So soon, Americans will likely have to drive to hospitals and possibly large parking lots, like testing today.
Pfizer expects to produce 50 million doses this year and 1.3 billion in 2021. Orders have already been placed: 20 to 30 million to be delivered by the end of December in the United States, 100 million in all; up to 300 million in the European Union, 120 million in Japan … Then Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and others hope to have vaccines as well, and global logistics will change scale. In two years, the carrier DHL estimates the need for 15,000 flights and 15 million refrigerated packages to be delivered worldwide.
As for poor countries, they have no hope of benefiting from the first refrigerated vaccines and will have to store large quantities of vaccines beyond the two-week limit for refrigerated packages. However, -80 ° C freezers cost five times more than standard freezers and are produced only on request.
Side effects?
This is a question without a clear answer, for the moment, in particular due to the speed with which laboratories have to work: in general, it is precisely to eliminate them as much as possible that phase 3 trials last several years.
According to Pfizer and Biontech, no “serious problems” have been observed in the trials so far. But the two companies must continue to collect vaccine safety data.
Volunteers to test the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine under development are known to suffer from headaches, chills or muscle aches. Relatively classic effects, which remained “light or moderate” according to the lab.
Le Figaro he also notes that Pfizer’s vaccine, with its RNA technique, does not use viruses or pathogens to activate the immune response. This helps limit side effects.
Should it be made mandatory?
Ecologist MEP Yannick Jadot set foot on the plate: Tuesday he said he was in favor of making the vaccine against Covid-19 mandatory. Since then, the debate on the obligation to vaccinate has begun, in the political world as elsewhere.
For the moment, the Alta Autorité de santé does not recommend compulsory vaccination, neither for the entire population nor for nurses, even if the latter, as well as for the over 65 and with pathologies at risk, are designated as “priority “.
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