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The Observer asked the DGS if specific storage sites are being defined for vaccines, in particular for Pfizer ones, which must be kept at extremely low temperatures, but did not receive a response. “We are also evaluating the problems of the cold chain”, he limited himself to indicating the DGS.
In an interview with Expresso, Nuno Vale, researcher at CINTESIS and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, explained that in Portugal, research centers and pharmaceutical or analytical laboratories have cases that can reach -80 ° C, the temperature required for storage of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, but this is not the case in hospitals.
The question is how to store them when they reach the ‘buyer’ – in this case, the referral hospitals, which intend to purchase large quantities of vaccine packs and store, and which usually have equipment that guarantees temperatures between 2 ° C and 8 ° C ”, pointed out the specialist in Pharmacotherapy to Expresso.
But this may not be a problem because, if the vaccine is removed from minus 80 degrees and placed in the refrigerator for a few days, hospitals would only have to place a “two days early” order.
The temperature at which the Pfizer vaccine must be stored is a fundamental factor as it can compromise its good results: according to the clinical study, temperatures between 70ºC and 80ºC negative at which vaccines must be are essential to preserve the synthetic material in phase of production and transport.
Before being used, the vaccine must gradually lower the temperature. What is already known is that it can last up to five days when stored at temperatures between 2ºC and 8ºC, although Pfizer and BioNTech are trying to figure out if they can extend that period up to two weeks.
To be Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to obtain final approval only the first challenge, among many, will be overcome. Ditto for the drug developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, both are mRNA vaccines, using a new technology, which requires different storage and transport rules than those already existing on the market.
The main obstacle is that mRNA vaccines have to be stored in extremely cold temperatures when most countries don’t have the infrastructure to do so. According to Reuters, even the most sophisticated hospitals in the United States do not have these types of deposits. In the case of developing states the lack of financial resources to create the necessary logistics makes the problem even more complex than in the rest of the world.
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The alarm has already been left by the World Health Organization (WHO) and by several medical experts who fear that these could become vaccines only for rich countries and also by dry ice traders who plan not to have the hands to measure with the increase in orders.
“There is no health care system in the Caribbean, South America, the United States or Europe that is ready to deal with these vaccines,” said Jarbas Barbosa, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, WHO’s regional office for the Americas. at a press conference last Wednesday. “It is necessary store them at -70 degrees Celsius. If countries use vaccines, they will have to prepare. The other eight vaccines that are in phase three of clinical trials can use the cold nets we have today in any country, ”he detailed.
According to the BBC, the WHO is developing, together with Unicef, a mapping of refrigeration systems to store vaccines against Covid-19.
[Nova vacina. Temperatura é um dos maiores desafios]
Despite this, New Scientist wrote Thursday that the Pfizer problem could be solved, as two other teams of Covid vaccine researchers, who also use mRNA technology, appear to have indications that there are ways to keep vaccines stable for three months in a conventional refrigerator.
A part from that, vaccine storage is something that must also be considered taking into account the characteristics of the various vaccines. It is that, although Pfizer / BioNTech’s vaccine must be kept between 70ºC and 80ºC less, the Johnson & Jonhson vaccine only needs temperatures between 2ºC and 8ºC, while the Moderna vaccine requires storage at temperatures below 20ºC, more practicable than temperatures. required by Pfizer, as a normal freezer can reach these -20ºC.
This week, as the Observer wrote, reports have begun on how it will be possible to travel a vaccine around the world. What is certain is that it will require the use of 8,000 “jumbo jet” aircraft, such as the Boeing 747 and 767 models and the Airbus A330assuming that each person only needs one dose of the vaccine.
Now there is the problem of temperature. The vaccine must be delivered to each country at ultra-low temperatures with the help of dry ice – the solid form of carbon dioxide – and cryogenic refrigerators, which use liquid nitrogen. Cold Jet, one of the world’s leading refrigeration companies, called in operators to upgrade equipment and optimize dry ice production at a time when demand is already on the rise.
Currently, the existing refrigerated transport infrastructure and supply chain are not prepared to handle shipments in these low temperatures, “the company warned in a statement.
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Pfizer has been planning supply chains since March, when it began developing the vaccine. “Ensuring that billions of people around the world have access to our potential vaccine is as important as developing it,” said CEO Albert Bourla, quoted by The Wall Street Journal.
Already there thousands of vaccines ready from two specific locations: one in Kalamazoo, Michigan (USA) and another in Puurs, Belgium. These facilities, according to The Guardian, are the size of football stadiums and can hold 350 large freezers, where the vaccines will be stored and then sent to various corners of the world. In addition to these, there are also two distribution centers, one in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin (USA) and another in Karlsruhe, Germany, which have greater storage capacity.
Pfizer matters produce up to 50 million doses again in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion next year and has already applied for an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so that the vaccine can be used on a large scale, even if it is in clinical trials. If it gets the green light from the FDA, the American manufacturer says it will be able to send them “very soon after,” a Pfizer official told the Wall Street Journal.
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