5 ms·
Interesting: > The vaccine will be kept in the capital until shortly before use because of the lack of facilities in the provinces for storing it at the requir
by elihu 8y ago
Interesting:
> The vaccine will be kept in the capital until shortly before use because of the lack of facilities in the provinces for storing it at the required temperature, between minus 60 degrees and minus 80 degrees Celsius, or between minus 76 degrees and minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit.
Are there any other vaccines that have to be kept at such low temperatures?
- olliej 8y agoMany have fairly low temperature storage requirements, a -80C is a fairly standard freezer for dealing with long term storage of anything biological. But the real problem isn’t -60 or -80. It’s -[Anything]. If there isn't a reliable source of electricity refrigeration (to the extent required by many drugs and vaccines) is the largest problem faced when you’re trying to get vaccinated new and drugs to remote locations.
- jeffreyrogers 8y agoYep, and the DRC has almost no power infrastructure so its hard to get electricity outside of the cities.
- digikata 8y agoOne of the more interesting uses of UAVs is for transport of samples and drugs back and forth to remote areas. There is at least one company trying it.
- jeffreyrogers 8y agoSeems tough in this case. The DRC is huge.
- Fomite 8y agoMost vaccines need to be kept cold but actively shouldn't be frozen. -80C is pretty unusual for a vaccine.
- timr 8y agoMost have to be refrigerated. Vaccines tend to be proteins and sugars which will denature (i.e. unfold or fall apart) if not stored properly. Though -80 is a little extreme for a vaccine. That's the temperature most commonly used for long-term lab storage of samples. It's not a common storage capacity in first-world countries, let alone the third world.
- mnw21cam 8y agoThere are huge numbers of -80 freezers scattered all over first world countries in research labs and medical centres.
- timr 8y agoMost people do not get their vaccinations at medical research labs. Your corner pharmacy doesn't have one, nor do most doctors' offices.
- mmt 8y agoI don't think the question is whether or not the absolute total number of them in all first world countries is "huge" (which I doubt), but, rather, if they're common. Would a small, rural hospital have even one? If they do and it breaks, could they rent a replacement (even off-site) while awaiting repairs? For that matter, could even a small research lab do so in a large city? I'd expect those answers to be "yes" for equipment we consider to be common in industries like restaurants and construction.
- Fomite 8y agoI don't know about the hospital (though I expect the answer is yes), but there's four or five -80 freezers within walking distance of me, and that's for a rural university. A small research lab in a large city could likely replace theirs quickly, or beg/borrow replacement space from another lab.
- fabian2k 8y ago-80°C is a typical storage temperature for proteins and other biological samples in the lab. This might indicate the experimental nature of the vaccine, and that they didn't have the chance to optimize or test that aspect yet.
- dredmorbius 8y agoFWIW, that's roughly dry ice temperatures. Though precise cryogenic refrigeration is a tech domain of its own. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_ice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_ice