The COVID-19 Science and Medicine Question Thread
- Thread starter Roccus7
- Start date
From NPR this evening. It is very "normal" to halt vaccine clinical trials for adverse reactions. This reaction could be totally unrelated to the vaccine, but for the safety of ALL vaccine trial participants and future vaccine recipients it is critical to apply the brakes and figure out exactly what happened and why...
COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Paused, Due To Illness In One Volunteer
September 8, 20207:17 PM ET
JOE PALCA
TwitterFacebook
Drug maker AstraZeneca has announced that it is pausing it's COVID-19 vaccine trial due to a "potentially unexplained illness" in one of the trial volunteers.
The vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with Astra Zeneca. It's being studied in thousands of patients in the United States and the United Kingdom. The illness apparently occurred in a U.K. volunteer.
The company hasn't revealed the nature of the illness, but did confirm that a pause in vaccination will allow a safety review. "This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials," an AstraZeneca spokesperson said in a statement to NPR.
The next step will be to determine if the illness is indeed related to the vaccine, or just a chance event.
The AstraZeneca/Oxford partnership is one of the vaccine development efforts that is furthest along. The company recently began a Phase 3 trial in the United States that aims to enroll 30,000 volunteers.
The vaccine is what's known as a non-replicating viral vector vaccine. When injected into a volunteer, it tricks that person's cells into making a protein from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. That has the effect of prompting the vaccinated person to have an immune reaction that should be protective if the person were exposed to the coronavirus.
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In late July, results of a preliminary safety and effectiveness study found that more than two-thirds of the people who received the experimental vaccine reported fatigue and headache after inoculation. Muscle ache and fever were also common. But the researchers said that there were no "serious adverse reactions" among the more than 500 people vaccinated; most of the effects were "mild or moderate in severity."
In May, the Trump administration awarded the effort up to $1.2 billion from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority as part of Operation Warp Speed, the administration's push to have a widely available coronavirus vaccine by January.
In a statement, AstraZeneca wrote that "In large trials illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed to check this carefully. We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials."
The Astra Zeneca/Oxford vaccine candidate is one of nine that have either started or are about to start being tested in large numbers of volunteers around the world.
COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Paused, Due To Illness In One Volunteer
September 8, 20207:17 PM ET
JOE PALCA
TwitterFacebook
Drug maker AstraZeneca has announced that it is pausing it's COVID-19 vaccine trial due to a "potentially unexplained illness" in one of the trial volunteers.
The vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with Astra Zeneca. It's being studied in thousands of patients in the United States and the United Kingdom. The illness apparently occurred in a U.K. volunteer.
The company hasn't revealed the nature of the illness, but did confirm that a pause in vaccination will allow a safety review. "This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials," an AstraZeneca spokesperson said in a statement to NPR.
The next step will be to determine if the illness is indeed related to the vaccine, or just a chance event.
The AstraZeneca/Oxford partnership is one of the vaccine development efforts that is furthest along. The company recently began a Phase 3 trial in the United States that aims to enroll 30,000 volunteers.
The vaccine is what's known as a non-replicating viral vector vaccine. When injected into a volunteer, it tricks that person's cells into making a protein from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. That has the effect of prompting the vaccinated person to have an immune reaction that should be protective if the person were exposed to the coronavirus.
Article continues after sponsor message
In late July, results of a preliminary safety and effectiveness study found that more than two-thirds of the people who received the experimental vaccine reported fatigue and headache after inoculation. Muscle ache and fever were also common. But the researchers said that there were no "serious adverse reactions" among the more than 500 people vaccinated; most of the effects were "mild or moderate in severity."
In May, the Trump administration awarded the effort up to $1.2 billion from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority as part of Operation Warp Speed, the administration's push to have a widely available coronavirus vaccine by January.
In a statement, AstraZeneca wrote that "In large trials illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed to check this carefully. We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials."
The Astra Zeneca/Oxford vaccine candidate is one of nine that have either started or are about to start being tested in large numbers of volunteers around the world.
Dx life Rx fishing
Angler
Not sure if it's true or not but I was reading that researchers in Pittsburgh have developed a drug that neutralizes the corona virus. It's called AB-8.
Did not catch this, THANKS!!! It's very interesting and intriguing. Very promising data in rodents, let's see how it does in humans...
To put it simply, they took the binding part of a human antibody that binds to the COVID-19 virus, removed the non-binding parts and then reattached the parts of a human antibody that tell the rest of the immune system, "Houston, we've got a problem", to ensure a complete immune response is initiated. This "skinny" antibody means it diffuses faster (rates of diffusion direct related to molecular size) and has the potential for different modes of introduction like nasal spray, along with the classic injection.
Tiny Antibody Component Highly Effective Against COVID-19
9/14/2020
PITTSBURGH – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that completely and specifically neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the cause of COVID-19. This antibody component, which is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, has been used to construct a drug—known as Ab8—for potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers report today in the journal Cell that Ab8 is highly effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters. Its tiny size not only increases its potential for diffusion in tissues to better neutralize the virus, but also makes it possible to administer the drug by alternative routes, including inhalation. Importantly, it does not bind to human cells—a good sign that it won’t have negative side-effects in people.
Ab8 was evaluated in conjunction with scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, as well as the University of British Columbia and University of Saskatchewan.
“Ab8 not only has potential as therapy for COVID-19, but it also could be used to keep people from getting SARS-CoV-2 infections,” said co-author John Mellors, M.D., chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UPMC and Pitt. “Antibodies of larger size have worked against other infectious diseases and have been well tolerated, giving us hope that it could be an effective treatment for patients with COVID-19 and for protection of those who have never had the infection and are not immune.”
The tiny antibody component is the variable, heavy chain (VH) domain of an immunoglobulin, which is a type of antibody found in the blood. It was found by “fishing” in a pool of more than 100 billion potential candidates using the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as bait. Ab8 is created when the VH domain is fused to part of the immunoglobulin tail region, adding the immune functions of a full-size antibody without the bulk.
Like the Pitt and UPMC vaccine candidate PittCoVacc that delivers an immunization through a spiky Band-Aid-like patch and overcomes the need for needles and refrigeration, the researchers are “thinking outside the box” when it comes to how Ab8 could be administered. Its small size might allow it to be given as an inhaled drug or intradermally, rather than intravenously through an IV drip, like most monoclonal antibodies currently in development.
Abound Bio, a newly formed UPMC-backed company, has licensed Ab8 for worldwide development.
, senior author of the Cell publication and director of Pitt’s Center for Antibody Therapeutics, was one of the first to discover neutralizing antibodies for the original SARS coronavirus in 2003. In the ensuing years, his team discovered potent antibodies against many other infectious diseases, including those caused by MERS-CoV, dengue, Hendra and Nipah viruses. The antibody against Hendra and Nipah viruses has been evaluated in humans and approved for clinical use on a compassionate basis in Australia.
Clinical trials are testing convalescent plasma—which contains antibodies from people who already had COVID-19—as a treatment for those battling the infection, but there isn’t enough plasma for those who might need it, and it isn’t proven to work.
That’s why Dimitrov and his team set out to isolate the gene for one or more antibodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which would allow for mass production. In February, Wei Li, Ph.D., assistant director of Pitt’s Center for Therapeutic Antibodies and co-lead author of the research, began sifting through large libraries of antibody components made using human blood samples and found multiple therapeutic antibody candidates, including Ab8, in record time.
Then a team at UTMB’s Center for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases and Galveston National Laboratory, led by Chien-Te Kent Tseng, Ph.D., tested Ab8 using live SARS-CoV-2 virus. At very low concentrations, Ab8 completely blocked the virus from entering cells. With those results in hand, Ralph Baric, Ph.D., and his UNC colleagues tested Ab8 at varying concentrations in mice using a modified version of SARS-CoV-2 . Even at the lowest dose, Ab8 decreased by 10-fold the amount of infectious virus in those mice compared to their untreated counterparts. Ab8 also was effective in treating and preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters, as evaluated by Darryl Falzarano, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Saskatchewan. Sriram Subramaniam, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia uncovered the unique way Ab8 neutralizes the virus so effectively by using sophisticated electron microscopic techniques.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge facing humanity, but biomedical science and human ingenuity are likely to overcome it,” Mellors said. “We hope that the antibodies we have discovered will contribute to that triumph.”
Additional co-lead authors of this research are Xianglei Liu, M.D., Ph.D., of Pitt; Alexandra Schäfer, Ph.D., and David R. Martinez, Ph.D., both of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Swarali S. Kulkarni, M.Sc., of the University of Saskatchewan. Additional authors are Chuan Chen, Ph.D., Zehua Sun, Ph.D., Liyoung Zhang, Ph.D., all of Pitt; Sarah R. Leist, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Aleksandra Drelich, Ph.D., of the University of Texas Medical Branch; Marcin L. Ura, Ph.D., and Eric Peterson, M.S., both of Abound Bio; and Alison Berezuk, Ph.D., Sagar Chittori, Ph.D., Karoline Leopold, Ph.D., Dhiraj Mannar, B.Sc., Shanti S. Srivastava, Ph.D., and Xing Zhu, Ph.D., all of the University of British Columbia.
This research was funded by National Institutes of Health grants F32 AI152296, T32 AI007151, AI132178, AI108197 and P30CA016086, as well as UPMC; the Burroughs Wellcome Fund; a Canada Excellence Research Chair Award; Genome BC, Canada; Canadian Institutes for Health Research; and Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
To put it simply, they took the binding part of a human antibody that binds to the COVID-19 virus, removed the non-binding parts and then reattached the parts of a human antibody that tell the rest of the immune system, "Houston, we've got a problem", to ensure a complete immune response is initiated. This "skinny" antibody means it diffuses faster (rates of diffusion direct related to molecular size) and has the potential for different modes of introduction like nasal spray, along with the classic injection.
Tiny Antibody Component Highly Effective Against COVID-19
9/14/2020
PITTSBURGH – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that completely and specifically neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the cause of COVID-19. This antibody component, which is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, has been used to construct a drug—known as Ab8—for potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers report today in the journal Cell that Ab8 is highly effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters. Its tiny size not only increases its potential for diffusion in tissues to better neutralize the virus, but also makes it possible to administer the drug by alternative routes, including inhalation. Importantly, it does not bind to human cells—a good sign that it won’t have negative side-effects in people.
Ab8 was evaluated in conjunction with scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, as well as the University of British Columbia and University of Saskatchewan.
“Ab8 not only has potential as therapy for COVID-19, but it also could be used to keep people from getting SARS-CoV-2 infections,” said co-author John Mellors, M.D., chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UPMC and Pitt. “Antibodies of larger size have worked against other infectious diseases and have been well tolerated, giving us hope that it could be an effective treatment for patients with COVID-19 and for protection of those who have never had the infection and are not immune.”
The tiny antibody component is the variable, heavy chain (VH) domain of an immunoglobulin, which is a type of antibody found in the blood. It was found by “fishing” in a pool of more than 100 billion potential candidates using the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as bait. Ab8 is created when the VH domain is fused to part of the immunoglobulin tail region, adding the immune functions of a full-size antibody without the bulk.
Like the Pitt and UPMC vaccine candidate PittCoVacc that delivers an immunization through a spiky Band-Aid-like patch and overcomes the need for needles and refrigeration, the researchers are “thinking outside the box” when it comes to how Ab8 could be administered. Its small size might allow it to be given as an inhaled drug or intradermally, rather than intravenously through an IV drip, like most monoclonal antibodies currently in development.
Abound Bio, a newly formed UPMC-backed company, has licensed Ab8 for worldwide development.
, senior author of the Cell publication and director of Pitt’s Center for Antibody Therapeutics, was one of the first to discover neutralizing antibodies for the original SARS coronavirus in 2003. In the ensuing years, his team discovered potent antibodies against many other infectious diseases, including those caused by MERS-CoV, dengue, Hendra and Nipah viruses. The antibody against Hendra and Nipah viruses has been evaluated in humans and approved for clinical use on a compassionate basis in Australia.
Clinical trials are testing convalescent plasma—which contains antibodies from people who already had COVID-19—as a treatment for those battling the infection, but there isn’t enough plasma for those who might need it, and it isn’t proven to work.
That’s why Dimitrov and his team set out to isolate the gene for one or more antibodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which would allow for mass production. In February, Wei Li, Ph.D., assistant director of Pitt’s Center for Therapeutic Antibodies and co-lead author of the research, began sifting through large libraries of antibody components made using human blood samples and found multiple therapeutic antibody candidates, including Ab8, in record time.
Then a team at UTMB’s Center for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases and Galveston National Laboratory, led by Chien-Te Kent Tseng, Ph.D., tested Ab8 using live SARS-CoV-2 virus. At very low concentrations, Ab8 completely blocked the virus from entering cells. With those results in hand, Ralph Baric, Ph.D., and his UNC colleagues tested Ab8 at varying concentrations in mice using a modified version of SARS-CoV-2 . Even at the lowest dose, Ab8 decreased by 10-fold the amount of infectious virus in those mice compared to their untreated counterparts. Ab8 also was effective in treating and preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters, as evaluated by Darryl Falzarano, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Saskatchewan. Sriram Subramaniam, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia uncovered the unique way Ab8 neutralizes the virus so effectively by using sophisticated electron microscopic techniques.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge facing humanity, but biomedical science and human ingenuity are likely to overcome it,” Mellors said. “We hope that the antibodies we have discovered will contribute to that triumph.”
Additional co-lead authors of this research are Xianglei Liu, M.D., Ph.D., of Pitt; Alexandra Schäfer, Ph.D., and David R. Martinez, Ph.D., both of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Swarali S. Kulkarni, M.Sc., of the University of Saskatchewan. Additional authors are Chuan Chen, Ph.D., Zehua Sun, Ph.D., Liyoung Zhang, Ph.D., all of Pitt; Sarah R. Leist, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Aleksandra Drelich, Ph.D., of the University of Texas Medical Branch; Marcin L. Ura, Ph.D., and Eric Peterson, M.S., both of Abound Bio; and Alison Berezuk, Ph.D., Sagar Chittori, Ph.D., Karoline Leopold, Ph.D., Dhiraj Mannar, B.Sc., Shanti S. Srivastava, Ph.D., and Xing Zhu, Ph.D., all of the University of British Columbia.
This research was funded by National Institutes of Health grants F32 AI152296, T32 AI007151, AI132178, AI108197 and P30CA016086, as well as UPMC; the Burroughs Wellcome Fund; a Canada Excellence Research Chair Award; Genome BC, Canada; Canadian Institutes for Health Research; and Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
Link only shows entire state, what County are you in?
wader
Well-Known Angler
Accomack - I had copied the link but I guess it reverts back to the whole state - I'll try a screen shot
Doesn't come out very clear - you might have to go to the site. Use the link I posted above.
Select Locality
Select Accomack
Last edited:
movetheboat
Well-Known Angler
Your will up to date?
Sorry, just got around to this. I have to ask what's your intent of asking the question? If you're thinking these numbers are saying, "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!" then I'd caution against it.
Yes, the daily cases look very nice, showing not much of a late summer surge like many areas in the rest of the country.
However if you look at Hospitalizations, there is a pretty consistent run rate throughout the entire time span which isn't so good:
And looking at deaths, it seems much more constant so I wouldn't be patting yourselves on your backs. It seems that the fatality of the infections there are pretty constant so the highest levels of caution need to be continued:
Bottom line, IMO, if folks are looking at these data to say it's time to normalize things, that would be a grave mistake, something that's not limited to VA's Eastern Shore, but the entire country and even the world. World-wide when things have opened up, the chit has hit the fan, colleges shutting down within a few days of opening, schools doing the same, etc.
It's time for all of us to come to grips that masks, social distancing, superlative hygiene, avoiding crowds, avoiding travel, etc. ARE the NEW NORMAL until the time that an effective vaccine is available and widely used. It's something that none of us want to succumb to, but it's the harsh reality of dealing with an unyielding, deadly lest we succumb to the ravages of the virus.
Not a fan. This configuration doesn't prevent the exit or entrance of airborne respiratory particles doing an end run and coming in/departing from the back. At least they get trapped in a mask.
wader
Well-Known Angler
thanks for the input
No interest in running around like its "1999". I realize that's pending the outcome of a vaccine. Just was looking for your opinion as to me it looked pretty good & we may be working our way through it. We were a "hot spot" during early Spring. We were only 1 of a handful of counties in the Commonwealth that was not allowed to move to Phase 2 with the rest of the state. As I recall there were 3 or 4 counties that were prohibited to move to Phase 2 opening.
As a matter of fact the Governor had cleared us to move to Phase 2 but the county petitioned the Governor to leave us in Phase 1. This was because of the large number of cases vs. the population. We apparently were meeting the criteria to move to Phase 2 but the Governor didn't take into account the population (even though he was born & raised in Onancock so he should have been aware).
So we remained in Phase 1.
Presently you can not get into a public space without a mask. They are very strict on that even going so far as to telling people who got in with a mask & then proceeded to wear it improperly to wear it properly or leave the store. I have seen a couple of instances where people were being escorted out of the building.
I'm fine with that.
Just thinking they may be doing something right when we were so bad in the beginning & was looking for another opinion.
I myself do not intend to act like things are back to normal until such a time as a vaccine is available & we are given the all clear. I'm not travelling anywhere(even though it's now been a year since I got to see my daughter) other then for necessities & the occasional night out for a meal as all establishments are meeting the distancing protocols.
We(the family) were supposed to be spending a week in the Outer Banks the last week of August. I was the first to bail on that with most of my brothers following suit. Luckily my brother was able to get some major bucks back from the landlord for the 10 bedroom house he rented on the beach. The rent was north of $3000 for the week.
I've never had a flu shot nor have I ever had the flu. I will however be getting one this year & definitely getting a COVID vaccination when available.
Thanks for your read on the charts. VA updates them daily by 10 each morning.
And they will also pass right thru a mask..
Until 1999 or so never got a flu shot either. Then I got the flu. Have gotten 21 flu shots since.
Never thought that vaccine manufacturers would consider -80°C shipping conditions as an acceptable shipping and storage condition, BUT looks like they have.
From a person who was plagued with receiving materials at said conditions and storing many key reagents at those temps, trust me, this is a HUGE logistical challenge, especially when you're talking about 100s of millions of vaccines for the US, and the billions needed for world-wide inoculations. Trust me, nobody in the Amazon basin has ultrafreezers capable for said storage.
From today's NY Times...
How to Ship a Vaccine at –80°C, and Other Obstacles in the Covid Fight
Developing an effective vaccine is the first step. Then comes the question of how to deliver hundreds of millions of doses that may need to be kept at arctic temperatures.
Many things will have to work out to end the coronavirus pandemic. Drug companies will have to develop a safe and effective vaccine. Billions of people will have to consent to vaccination.
But there are more prosaic challenges, too. Among them: Companies may have to transport tiny glass vials thousands of miles while keeping them as cold as the South Pole in the depths of winter.
A number of the leading Covid-19 vaccines under development will need to be kept at temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit) from the moment they are bottled to the time they are ready to be injected into patients’ arms.
That will not be easy. Vaccines may be manufactured on one continent and shipped to another. They will go from logistics hub to logistics hub before ending up at the hospitals and other facilities that will administer them.
While no vaccine has yet been approved by health officials in the United States, preparations for a mass-vaccination campaign are gearing up. The U.S. military and a federal contractor are expected to play a role in coordinating the distribution. But a hodgepodge of companies are scrambling to figure out how to keep hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine very, very cold.
Planes, trucks and warehouses will need to be outfitted with freezers. Glass vials will need to withstand icy climes. Someone will need to make a lot more dry ice.
“We’re only now beginning to understand the complexities of the delivery side of all of this,” said J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research firm. “And there’s no getting around it. These have stark temperature demands that will constrain access and delivery.”
President Trump on Friday asserted that hundreds of millions of doses of an unidentified vaccine will be available to all Americans by April. That timeline is more ambitious than what his own advisers have described. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate committee on Wednesday that a vaccine would not be widely available until the middle of next year.
Of the three vaccines that have advanced to Phase 3 trials, two — one made by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, the other by Pfizer and BioNTech — need to be kept in a near constant deep freeze. (They are made with genetic materials that fall apart when they thaw.) Another leading vaccine candidate, being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, must be kept cool but not frozen.
McKesson, a major drug distributor, won a major federal contract last month to help distribute a coronavirus vaccine. Much of the work, however, will fall to companies outside the medical and drug industries. The major U.S. logistics companies, including UPS and FedEx, already have networks of freezers that they use to ship perishable food and medical supplies. The companies have experience shipping vaccines for other illnesses, including the seasonal flu.
But the Covid-19 vaccination effort is likely to dwarf all previous campaigns.
UPS said it was constructing a so-called freezer farm in Louisville, Ky., the company’s largest hub, where it can store millions of doses at subzero temperatures.
Creating an entire warehouse that could maintain that deep freeze would have been too complex and costly. So instead, rows of upright industrial Stirling Ultracold freezers, each capable of holding 48,000 vials, are being arranged inside a warehouse. There are 70 freezers so far, but the warehouse could fit a few hundred. A similar UPS center is in the works in the Netherlands.
“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” said Wes Wheeler, UPS’s head of health care. “Nothing has been quite this global in scale.”
From a person who was plagued with receiving materials at said conditions and storing many key reagents at those temps, trust me, this is a HUGE logistical challenge, especially when you're talking about 100s of millions of vaccines for the US, and the billions needed for world-wide inoculations. Trust me, nobody in the Amazon basin has ultrafreezers capable for said storage.
From today's NY Times...
How to Ship a Vaccine at –80°C, and Other Obstacles in the Covid Fight
Developing an effective vaccine is the first step. Then comes the question of how to deliver hundreds of millions of doses that may need to be kept at arctic temperatures.
Many things will have to work out to end the coronavirus pandemic. Drug companies will have to develop a safe and effective vaccine. Billions of people will have to consent to vaccination.
But there are more prosaic challenges, too. Among them: Companies may have to transport tiny glass vials thousands of miles while keeping them as cold as the South Pole in the depths of winter.
A number of the leading Covid-19 vaccines under development will need to be kept at temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit) from the moment they are bottled to the time they are ready to be injected into patients’ arms.
That will not be easy. Vaccines may be manufactured on one continent and shipped to another. They will go from logistics hub to logistics hub before ending up at the hospitals and other facilities that will administer them.
While no vaccine has yet been approved by health officials in the United States, preparations for a mass-vaccination campaign are gearing up. The U.S. military and a federal contractor are expected to play a role in coordinating the distribution. But a hodgepodge of companies are scrambling to figure out how to keep hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine very, very cold.
Planes, trucks and warehouses will need to be outfitted with freezers. Glass vials will need to withstand icy climes. Someone will need to make a lot more dry ice.
“We’re only now beginning to understand the complexities of the delivery side of all of this,” said J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research firm. “And there’s no getting around it. These have stark temperature demands that will constrain access and delivery.”
President Trump on Friday asserted that hundreds of millions of doses of an unidentified vaccine will be available to all Americans by April. That timeline is more ambitious than what his own advisers have described. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate committee on Wednesday that a vaccine would not be widely available until the middle of next year.
Of the three vaccines that have advanced to Phase 3 trials, two — one made by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, the other by Pfizer and BioNTech — need to be kept in a near constant deep freeze. (They are made with genetic materials that fall apart when they thaw.) Another leading vaccine candidate, being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, must be kept cool but not frozen.
McKesson, a major drug distributor, won a major federal contract last month to help distribute a coronavirus vaccine. Much of the work, however, will fall to companies outside the medical and drug industries. The major U.S. logistics companies, including UPS and FedEx, already have networks of freezers that they use to ship perishable food and medical supplies. The companies have experience shipping vaccines for other illnesses, including the seasonal flu.
But the Covid-19 vaccination effort is likely to dwarf all previous campaigns.
UPS said it was constructing a so-called freezer farm in Louisville, Ky., the company’s largest hub, where it can store millions of doses at subzero temperatures.
Creating an entire warehouse that could maintain that deep freeze would have been too complex and costly. So instead, rows of upright industrial Stirling Ultracold freezers, each capable of holding 48,000 vials, are being arranged inside a warehouse. There are 70 freezers so far, but the warehouse could fit a few hundred. A similar UPS center is in the works in the Netherlands.
“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” said Wes Wheeler, UPS’s head of health care. “Nothing has been quite this global in scale.”
Last edited:
WhatKnot
Well-Known Angler
R 7 under this scenario how does this vaccine reach my local Walgreens Pharmacy where I get my ‘normal’ Flu Shot or is there another distribution scenario that needs to be in play? Thanks.
Last edited:
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