Cold chain transportation for newCovid-19 vaccine

As the northern hemisphere gradually ushered in a cold winter, the epidemic has once again risen, and some countries and regions have begun a new round of blockade. To open up the economy and achieve recovery, vaccines are still a key.

Previously, there were nearly 200 new coronavirus vaccines under development worldwide. According to the latest information on the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO), as of October 1542 new crown vaccines have entered the clinical trial stage, of which 10 have entered the clinical phase III trial stage, and 4 of them are from China.

The advent of an effective new COVID-19 vaccine seems to be foreseeable, and with the approaching mass production of vaccines, an unprecedentedly huge scale of vaccine transportation and distribution will bring challenges to the global logistics industry. According to a white paper jointly released by the international logistics giant DHL and McKinsey & Company, the global demand for the new crown vaccine is expected to exceed 10 billion doses after the advent of the new crown vaccine. This requires approximately 200,000 pallet shipments and approximately 15 million cooling box shipments and approximately 15,000 flights.

Tinglong Dai, a professor of medical operations management at Johns Hopkins University, even stated that the supply cold chain of the new crown vaccine will be one of the most complicated (medical logistics) supply chains in history.

"Temperature will be one of the biggest challenges in vaccine carrier transportation." The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) said in an interview with the "Daily Business News" reporter. "Some manufacturers of new crown vaccines have stated that they need to be as low as -80℃~-20. The temperature is far lower than the standard temperature of most drugs in transportation, usually 2℃~8℃.” Michael S. Kinch, director of the Center for Biotechnology and Drug Discovery Research and Innovation at the University of Washington, told reporters: “New Covid-19 vaccine transportation The key point is the cold chain, and observing the sensitivity of vaccines to the cold chain may also be a way for us to determine the preferred vaccine." Kinch called on government organizations, non-governmental organizations and private companies to cooperate closely to complete the delivery and delivery of the new crown vaccine. Distribute this difficult task.

The new crown vaccine puts forward new requirements for temperature control, and the air transport capacity is greatly reduced under the impact of the epidemic. How to prepare for the transportation and distribution of the new crown vaccine? How to establish a safe and stable supply chain?

The current vaccine transportation mainly uses two methods, active cooling (using refrigerating containers such as freezers) and passive cooling (adding refrigerants such as dry ice). Schadegg said that in the pharmaceutical industry, the above extreme low temperature requirements are actually not uncommon. The temperature is mainly controlled by a special container equipped with dry ice. The latter can control the temperature at about -79°C. Some existing freezers can also Reach this low temperature range. However, he believes that packaging at different temperatures, cooling fluids (such as dry ice), and temperature-controlled containers may be potential bottlenecks in transportation.

In interviews with all parties, it can be felt that at such a special moment, the unprecedented scale of urgent demand has brought severe challenges to all nodes of the new crown vaccine logistics supply chain. At the same time, we can also see that multi-party cooperation is the proposition and consensus of everyone. All participants in this "war epidemic", including governments, health agencies, freight organizations, and logistics providers, are forming a unified front. The ultimate goal is to achieve rapid delivery and fair distribution of vaccines.