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Why Does Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be Kept Colder Than Antarctica?
NPR ^ | November 17, 2020 | Selena Simmons-Duffin

Posted on 11/17/2020 11:55:42 AM PST by nickcarraway

SNIP

One big reason? One of the front-runners in the vaccine race — the one made by Pfizer — needs to be kept extremely cold: minus 70 degrees Celsius, which is colder than winter in Antarctica. Moderna has said that its vaccine needs to be frozen too, but only at minus 20 Celsius, more like a regular freezer.

Since there will be limited vaccine doses at first, immunization managers across the country will need to have plans to distribute any and all vaccine doses that are available. For months, they've been puzzling over the particular challenges presented by the Pfizer vaccine, which requires these ultra-cold conditions.

"I believe it can be done," says Debra Kristensen, a 30-year veteran of vaccine innovation and supply chains at PATH, an international nonprofit focused on public health. "Ebola vaccine, for example, was successfully used in a few African countries and also required this ultra-cold chain storage."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: pfizer
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1 posted on 11/17/2020 11:55:42 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

why haven’t they filed for emergency use yet?? Let’s get the front line workers who want to be vaccinated vaccinated.


2 posted on 11/17/2020 11:57:09 AM PST by 1Old Pro ( )
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To: nickcarraway

Bookmark.


3 posted on 11/17/2020 11:58:45 AM PST by Pajamajan ( PRAY FOR OUR NATION. I will never be a peaceful slave to a Socialist new America.)
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To: nickcarraway

Moderna has said that its vaccine needs to be frozen too, but only at minus 20 Celsius, more like a regular freezer.

You can keep it in the freezer, right next to the Hot Pockets.

4 posted on 11/17/2020 11:58:46 AM PST by Flick Lives (My work's illegal, but at least it's honest. - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
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To: nickcarraway

So, how much tissue will a vaccine at -70 degrees C kill when injected?
Maybe a small divot?


5 posted on 11/17/2020 11:59:09 AM PST by Little Ray (The Left and Right no longer have anything in common. A House divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: nickcarraway

There are cyrogenic containers on the market used to ship products that need to be frozen in liquid nitrogen that are more than capable of doing the job.

First one that came up on Google for me:
https://www.fishersci.com/us/en/browse/90106027/liquid-nitrogen-storage-equipment


6 posted on 11/17/2020 12:01:01 PM PST by PAR35
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To: nickcarraway

This is the vaccine that Joe Biden was told about before any government officials? Why are we even supporting this vaccine?


7 posted on 11/17/2020 12:01:07 PM PST by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne )
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To: Little Ray

So, how much tissue will a vaccine at -70 degrees C kill when injected? Maybe a small divot?

Wondering that myself? How does that work? Wouldn't it freeze the first tissue it comes in contact with?

8 posted on 11/17/2020 12:04:19 PM PST by Envisioning (Carry safe, always carry, everyday, everywhere.)
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To: nickcarraway

This issue has been known about for some time. I got my flu shot in September and the pharmacist who gave it to me said that she didn’t think that CVS would be able to administer the vaccine since its storage required such low temperatures. The logistics of handling and distributing it are going to be a tough, but not impossible problem.


9 posted on 11/17/2020 12:07:32 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: Envisioning

Maybe it is only frozen for transport and warmed up before injection.
After all, how do you inject ice?


10 posted on 11/17/2020 12:12:03 PM PST by Little Ray (The Left and Right no longer have anything in common. A House divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: 1Old Pro

Doesn’t a vaccine take five to ten years to be determined safe?


11 posted on 11/17/2020 12:38:10 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Flick Lives

Jim Gaffigan is that you?


12 posted on 11/17/2020 12:38:43 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Doesn’t a vaccine take five to ten years to be determined safe?

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that they built this on a safe "chassis" that is used for all similar vaccines

13 posted on 11/17/2020 12:40:02 PM PST by 1Old Pro ( )
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To: hanamizu; All

Dry ice. This ain’t rocket science. Maybe they could learn a lesson from Omaha Steaks. Local drug stores using $400 chest freezers.


14 posted on 11/17/2020 12:42:12 PM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore.)
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To: mass55th

"Why are we even supporting this vaccine?"

Pfizer managed to pull off an inside home run by manufacturing their vaccine with math (supercomputing) and never used stem cells. That's something we all need to get behind and deprecate these 'licensed' embryo lines.

15 posted on 11/17/2020 12:43:35 PM PST by StAnDeliver (I've got your Third Rail of Politics right here. )
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To: PAR35

I’m not sure that liquid nitrogen is required. The article states that -70C is required for storage. Dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide, CO2) is -78C so I think a really good cooler and a restock of the dry ice 1-2 times a week should work fine.

Liquid nitrogen is very hazardous to handle. It’s not complicated, just hazardous. Dry ice on the other hand just takes a pair of heavy leather gloves to work around. Plus, you can make cool looking glasses of smoking water.


16 posted on 11/17/2020 12:43:41 PM PST by Hootowl99
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To: StAnDeliver

I won’t be getting any vaccine, Pfizer’s or otherwise if I can help it.


17 posted on 11/17/2020 12:46:54 PM PST by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne )
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To: 1Old Pro

Probably because the safety criteria aren’t met yet. They made the rule that you need two months of data for half the subjects of the trial after their last dose of vaccine.


18 posted on 11/17/2020 12:46:56 PM PST by takebackaustin
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To: nickcarraway

"Jim Gaffigan is that you?"

F Gaffigan straight to the Flaming Dumpster of Comedy Has-Been Never-Was.

19 posted on 11/17/2020 12:49:59 PM PST by StAnDeliver (I've got your Third Rail of Politics right here. )
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To: mass55th

"I won’t be getting any vaccine, Pfizer’s or otherwise if I can help it."

Which is fine but we have to acknowledge Pfizer did a solid here by taking SC out of the equation and committing themselves to successfully modeling an emergency vaccine using bytes not bits. That was damn-near courageous given they had to go all-in that way at the inception.

tl;dr - You ain't takin the vaccine, I ain't takin the vaccine, but Pfizer made the best of a bad situation (and full disclosure -- PFE has been my 'add-on-the-dip' 25-year star in portfolio)

20 posted on 11/17/2020 12:57:14 PM PST by StAnDeliver (I've got your Third Rail of Politics right here. )
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