how well would plastic syringes hold up in -200deg storage???Pre-filled syringes have emerged as one of the fastest-growing choices for unit dose medication as the pharmaceutical industry seeks new and more convenient drug delivery methods. Pharmaceutical companies are able to minimize drug waste.
The market has expanded and is exploring all options outside of the traditional process. In the past, glass syringes dominated the market, but there has been a movement toward plastic and disposable syringes.
Pre-filled syringes have been utilized across a wide range of therapeutic sectors, such as vaccines, blood stimulants, and therapeutic proteins.
Jen Psaki would stare at whichever reporter spoke, then say
“Well, nobody has ever asked me THAT question before!” then she would just keep going, ask for the next reporter without bothering to ‘Circle Back’ and answer the question.
That reporter would be swiftly, and quietly lead to the nearest exit by ‘Interns’(?), doors clanging and locking after them.
Good question.
Next tid bit — COVID vaccine manufacturers have no liability.
Go look at the temperatures the mRNA vaccines must be stored at and then look at the temperature tolerances for standard single use plastic syringes. Guess what they don’t play well with?
Is that what you want?
s/
plastic is permeable?
and, we have a world sand shortage?
The vaccine vials have to be stored at a very low temperature.
Operation Warp Speed awarded contracts for syringes, needles, and vials. It also awarded a contract to ApiJect Systems America pre-filling for syringe bodies from bulk vaccine. IDK why that is not being used.
The COVID vaccines have to be stored and transported at ultra low temperatures of up to -60 degrees C, or -76 degrees F. This is much, much lower than, say, the common flu vaccine needs to be stored at.
Because of the necessity of keeping the vaccine at such ultra low temperatures, and the specialized freezers required to maintain such temperatures, it is best to keep the total volume of material that needs to be stored as compact as possible. Thus, shipping vaccines in vials is much more compact than shipping pre-filled syringes.
speed, perhaps. Trump drove the vaccine project. that’s why it took one third of the 18 months that Almighty Holy Science insisted was the absolute minimum amount of time it would take to formulate a vaccine.
how well would plastic syringes hold up in -200deg storage???My guesses are bulkiness/take up way more space per dose in the -25 degree F special freezers (delays rollout) and a higher cost per dose.
Glass shortage???
Go sweep up in Portland, Seattle, US Capitol, etc.
Glass supply, courtesy of BLM and Antifa
Question to anyone...
I have also noticed the C-19 needles are at least twice as long as flu shot needles.
Is that because they need to draw the vaccine from a vial?
Does the vaccine need to go to a certain muscle depth?
Other reasons?
Thank you!
When can we get it on a sugar cube?
Can you store plastic syringes at the sub-zero temperatures the vaccine needs to be kept at?
Here is a short tutorial about pharma vials and syringes.
I was responsible for container/closures for pharma products for over 38 years, Abbott, Hospira and Amgen...
Glass for pharmaceutical products is almost always “Type I”, borosilicate glass. This formulation includes boron and other additives to the silica which make the resulting container quite resistant to the contents.
Other types of glass for containers is referred to as “soda-lime glass is is more suitable for aqueous formulas with stable pH and low concentrations of active ingredients.
The sand used in Type I glass must be clean and pure. “Beach sand” is usually just broken up shells of calcium carbonate which, of course, is not silica dioxide.
So, now we have a container to put the vaccine into.
The next parameter to satisfy is CLOSING the container.
Unless you are using glass ampules which are closed with fire melting the tip shut, you need something resiliant to seal the vials and syringes.
Synthetic rubber compounds have existed for 30 years that do not contain any natural dry rubber. These halobutyl compounds fit the bill quite well. The stoppers are made in USA EU and Japan for the most part by West, Daikyo, Datwiler and others in the proper sizes to fit vials and syringes.
Vials also require an aluminum closure to keep the stopper in place and under compression to assure no microbial contamination can occur during shipping and storage. ALL pharma packaging for ALL therapeutics MUST pass “container/closure integrity (CCI) testing to prove that under ALL condition, the stopper and container to not allow microbes to enter the container.
Testing for CCI in “normal” room temp storage is done by subjecting the sealed containers to stress conditions of temp and pressure to see if the vial or syringe will fail while being surrounded by a liquid broth of bacteria or an aerosol of bacteria at a high concentration....usually about 10^8 bacterial count. Also, the containers are challenged using both aerobic and anaerobic oraganisms and, sometimes, the packaging is ship tested in the field and then subjected to CCI testing.
In the case of frozen products, -80DegF in this case, CCI testing must account for the shrinkage that occurs in the cold. Glass does shrink. Rubber stoppers freeze solid and shrink. The ratio of shrinkage to container dimensions has to analyzed. If the stopper shrinks too much it will lose contact with the container walls and then when warmed for use, it may leak.
Syringes pose several technical difficulties unique to syringes. With them, there is NO retainer to keep the stopper in place other than friction. Over time, changes in temperature and pressure can cause the small air bubble in a syring to expand and push the stopper out. The change in air volume doesn’t have to be very much, just a couple of psig change during a air transport can cause the stoppers to rise and lose sterility.
There are many more technical issues related to container closure product development...such as the multiple injections (up to 10) from a single vial and the stopper has so many holes in it that it fragments and produces rubber particles...so much fun!
Don’t get me started on permeability of containers...they ALL breath during shelf life! Physics!
Any questions? Please advise.
GRRRRR
Jane Grumman should stick to jouranlaimt. She ain’t too bright.