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>> The company has developed specially designed, temperature-controlled shippers for the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate, which can maintain recommended storage cond

>> The company has developed specially designed, temperature-controlled shippers for the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate, which can maintain recommended storage conditions (-70°C ±10°C) up to 15 days. Each shipper contains a GPS-enabled thermal sensor to track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment. Once thawed, the vaccine vial can be stored for up to 5 days at refrigerated (2 - 8oC) conditions. I read somewhere they already have 20 million doses ready to shipped once they get the approval. Wonder what is the capacity of each of these specially designed shippers and how the logistics of the eventual vaccination are going to be handled? But this is surely an interesting problem to solve and I look forward to how they tackle it.

nojito 6y ago
In the US, they already have pre-purchased millions of dosages that are ready to go within 24 hours of FDA approval. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/operation-warp-speed-covid-19-vaccine-delivery-fda-60-minutes-2020-11-08/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/operation-warp-speed-covid-19-v... It's quite remarkable in terms of logistics.
icegreentea2 6y ago
Here are some larger on-market -80 class medical shippers: https://www.thermosafe.com/files/Product_Sheets/DurablesforHealthcare.pdf https://www.thermosafe.com/files/Product_Sheets/DurablesforH... Guessing by eye, you can fit at least several hundred, up to low thousands of doses in each shipper. The inner volumes on these are pretty large, but a good chunk of it will be taken up by dry-ice.
- Kliment 6y ago
  You don't have to guess, this is published information. They have trays of 1000 doses, and up to 5 trays fit in a shipping box with the dry ice.
tuna-piano 6y ago
I'm curious if anyone knows why Pfizer's mRNA vaccine still needs this while Moderna's mRNA vaccine does not? Has Pfizer just not gone through the proper temperature testing or did they go through that testing and it showed that their vaccine needs to be stored so cold?
- refurb 6y ago
  The second option. Stability testing is done quite early with any drug candidate and is a requirement for FDA approval. There is zero chance that Pfizer didn't test their vaccine at higher temperatures. Although Moderna's and Pfzier's vaccines are both mRNA technologies, they aren't identical in either the mRNA itself or the lipid nanoparticle used to deliver the mRNA. That's why they have different stability profiles.
- zebrafish 6y ago
  Lipid nanoparticle used to envelope and deliver the mRNA. They’re using different makeups which affect the mRNA delivery and stabilization in the vaccine.

nojito 6y ago

In the US, they already have pre-purchased millions of dosages that are ready to go within 24 hours of FDA approval. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/operation-warp-speed-covid-19-vaccine-delivery-fda-60-minutes-2020-11-08/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/operation-warp-speed-covid-19-v... It's quite remarkable in terms of logistics.

icegreentea2 6y ago

Here are some larger on-market -80 class medical shippers: https://www.thermosafe.com/files/Product_Sheets/DurablesforHealthcare.pdf https://www.thermosafe.com/files/Product_Sheets/DurablesforH... Guessing by eye, you can fit at least several hundred, up to low thousands of doses in each shipper. The inner volumes on these are pretty large, but a good chunk of it will be taken up by dry-ice.

Kliment 6y ago
You don't have to guess, this is published information. They have trays of 1000 doses, and up to 5 trays fit in a shipping box with the dry ice.

tuna-piano 6y ago

I'm curious if anyone knows why Pfizer's mRNA vaccine still needs this while Moderna's mRNA vaccine does not? Has Pfizer just not gone through the proper temperature testing or did they go through that testing and it showed that their vaccine needs to be stored so cold?

refurb 6y ago
The second option. Stability testing is done quite early with any drug candidate and is a requirement for FDA approval. There is zero chance that Pfizer didn't test their vaccine at higher temperatures. Although Moderna's and Pfzier's vaccines are both mRNA technologies, they aren't identical in either the mRNA itself or the lipid nanoparticle used to deliver the mRNA. That's why they have different stability profiles.
zebrafish 6y ago
Lipid nanoparticle used to envelope and deliver the mRNA. They’re using different makeups which affect the mRNA delivery and stabilization in the vaccine.