Pfizer Vaccine - 90% effective? (General)

by dan , Tuesday, November 10, 2020, 16:29 (118 days ago) @ dan

Regarding the need for ultra-cold storage, this is from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/11/10/world/science-health-world/pfizers-ultraco...

"“The cold chain is going to be one of the most challenging aspects of delivery of this vaccination,” said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

“This will be a challenge in all settings because hospitals even in big cities do not have storage facilities for a vaccine at that ultralow temperature.”

Indeed, one of the most prestigious U.S. hospitals, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said it does not currently have that capability.

“We’re talking about a vaccine that needs storage at minus 70 or 80. That’s a tremendous logistical issue not only in the U.S. but outside the Western world,” said Dr Gregory Poland, a virologist and vaccine researcher with the Mayo Clinic.

“We’re a major medical center and we don’t have storage capacity like this. That will be true for everybody. This is a logistical obstacle.”

Pfizer spokeswoman Kim Bencker said the company was working closely with the U.S. government and state officials on how to ship the vaccine from its distribution centers in the United States, Germany and Belgium around the globe.

The detailed plan includes using dry ice to transport frozen vaccine vials by both air and land at their recommended temperatures for up to 10 days, she said.

State and local health care providers are responsible for storing and administering vaccines once delivered.

They can be kept in an ultralow temperature freezer for up to six months, or for five days at 2 to 8 degrees C — a type of refrigeration commonly available at hospitals, Bencker said.

The Pfizer storage units can also be refilled with ice for up to 15 days, she said.

But shots will spoil in around five days at normal refrigeration temperatures of slightly above freezing. BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said the companies are analyzing if they can extend that for two weeks." (Emphasis added)

My comment here is, define spoil.

As a side note, my confidence in the markets is not helped by seeing how they respond to this less than encouraging development on a vaccine. This level of fickleness exposes a pretty severe instability.