The latest promising advances in coronavirus vaccines are now posing even more questions. How will it be distributed? How will we get the vaccine? Who is helping to get the vaccine safely to us?
In the latest CBS Sunday Morning segment, correspondent David Pogue talks about how Cold Box is helping to ship the vaccine safely and efficiently to be readily available to those that need it first.
Thomas Tighe, the CEO of Direct Relief, a nonprofit that distributes medicine to community health centers and free clinics, explained: “It goes from the manufacturers to the distributors to the CVSes and Walgreens and RiteAids of the world, to doctors’ offices directly.”
And you have to keep it cold. Some of the vaccines are getting down to -70 degrees Celsius [-94 Fahrenheit]. Ultra-cold!
Tighe introduced Pogue to the concept of the cold chain for medicine distribution.
“If you buy ice cream, you’re receiving food through a cold chain. It’s manufactured, it’s kept cold ’til it gets to the distribution center of your grocery store, where you are the picker and packer. You are your own last mile.”
If the FDA gives approval to the new coronavirus vaccines, some of them will soon be crossing the country in special containers surrounded by super-frozen slabs. They assemble the slabs around the box, enveloping it in cold. The temperatures of each box can be monitored throughout its journey via GPS.
And for use on planes and trucks, there’s a self-contained, battery-powered shipping freezer. “On a forklift, you could bring this,” Tighe said. “It’s rated for -20 Celsius, -4 Fahrenheit.”
“It does seem like there’s a big difference between the Pfizer vaccine with its -94 requirements, and the Moderna, which could survive in a lot of these existing cold technologies,” said Pogue.
Watch the full interview with Colc Box here: https://www.cbs.com/shows/video/WRUaB1wa4M2CA5t19hRJjid5Z4aUKh4u/
Read the full article: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-breakthroughs-distribution-cost-pandemic/