1 March 2021, 4:17 pm EST By ( Could Logmore's Dry Ice Transit Solution Be the Answer to Covid Vaccine Delivery? )
The formulation of a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine is one thing, but its distribution to potentially billions of recipients is quite another. Make no mistake, transportation at sucha scale will entail a complex logistical operation, a consequence of the ultra-low storage temperatures required to preserve each and every dose.
As the life-saving vaccine journeys by land, sea and air from laboratories to distribution centres - and then onward to clinics, pharmacies and hospitals - the deep-freeze delivery chain, also known as the "ultra cold chain" will shoulder the burden of optimizing conditions. The stakes couldn't be higher - the prevention of millions of deaths and the reopening of society ultimately depends on their success.
Cote d’Ivoire among the first countries to receive the first wave of COVAX vaccines 25 February 2021
NEW YORK, 25 February 2021 -
WHAT: On Friday 26 February 2021, Cote d’Ivoire will receive 504,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX Facility. The vaccines and other equipment are being transported across the world by UNICEF as part of the efforts by the COVAX Facility to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), with
UNICEF leading on procurement and delivery of vaccines. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.
Breaking News | Africa: Africa's Hurdles Toward a Covid Vaccine thestreetjournal.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestreetjournal.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Coronavirus vaccines are now being administered in Europe, while Africa hopes to start by mid-2021. Until then, the continent of 54 countries will need to put the necessary logistics, such as refrigeration, in place.
Jean-Christophe Guillaume/Getty Images
The epic global effort to develop a Covid-19 vaccine has been unmatched in its scale, speed, and scientific advances. Now a vaccine for the disease, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, is on the verge of being rolled out in the US under an emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, raising hopes of an end to the pandemic.
But the vaccine’s potential to provide immunity to the broader population is now threatened by a massive logistical hurdle in actually getting it to people safely: keeping the vaccine doses cold.
Vaccines are fragile drugs that demand strict temperature controls lest they spoil. And they spoil a lot. According to the World Health Organization, about half of the vaccines distributed around the world go to waste, in large part because of a failure to properly control storage temperatures. That in turn undermines efforts to contain and eradicate disease.