[ad_1]
Mass vaccination sites may need to be established if the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is to be rolled out across the country next year, experts warned.
Challenges with the storage and transportation of the vaccine, which must be kept below 70 degrees Celsius, will mean that GPs and pharmacies are unlikely to be able to store the vaccine.
Vaccines can be stored for six months, but only if they are kept in “freezers,” Pfizer told Irish independent.
Without freezer storage, the options for dispensing the vaccine will be much more challenging.
“This will be an unprecedented logistical challenge,” said Paul Moynagh, professor of immunology at Maynooth University.
“The logistics of transporting and storing this will be very challenging and will take time.”
The ultra cold temperature required by the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is nearly impossible to maintain outside of a large hospital or academic lab with specialized freezers.
For this reason, Pfizer has devised “heat carriers” that, unopened, can keep vaccines frozen for up to 10 days.
Once first opened, they must be replenished with dry ice within 24 hours, then every five days to store the vaccine for up to 15 days.
These senders are supposed to be opened no more than twice a day to remove the vials and should be closed within a minute. Once thawed, the vaccine can last for five days at normal refrigerator temperature.
A Pfizer spokesperson said vaccines can be stored for six months if freezers are available.
The HSE did not provide the Irish independent with figures on how many freezers you currently have, or how many, if any, are currently on order.
Pfizer’s thermal transporters hold 975 vaccine vials, each containing approximately five doses of the injection, more than most general practitioners could expect to use before some doses begin to thaw and become useless.
While urban hospitals could cope with that volume, in rural areas a shipment of 975 vials will have to be divided into smaller ones, all while maintaining the temperature of the cold chain.
“Pfizer has said that (the vaccine) is stable for a couple of days at refrigerator temperature, but this is something that will make it logistically difficult to implement,” said Kingston Mills, professor of experimental immunology at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology. , Trinity College Dublin (TCD).
“For a GP or general use, it will be a bit of a problem. It is very likely that it will have to be disseminated in mass vaccination clinics where they have the appropriate devices to store the vaccine ”.
While the way vaccines are formulated (without added preservatives) and packaged (in vials containing multi-person doses) makes them easier to develop and manufacture quickly, it also makes them more difficult to administer on the ground.
Even with the development of Pfizer’s loader to transport the doses, it is unclear where people will receive the injections and what role the government will play in distribution, should a rollout occur.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (CANI) advises Medical Director Tony Holohan on a number of issues, including recommendations for specific vaccines for use in Ireland.
Professor Karina Butler, chair of the NIAC, said the committee is currently “fueling” preparations for a Covid-19 vaccine here.
“Plans are being made,” he said.
“It cannot be denied that there are significant logistical challenges with this particular vaccine (the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine) in terms of storage requirements, but nothing that cannot be overcome with planning.
“It can take some novel forms and it may not be the type of vaccine you can get at the corner drugstore because they may not have the storage. There may have to be different ways to do it.”
Professor Moynagh said that while labs like the one at Maynooth University have facilities for ultra-cold storage, “GPs and pharmacies would not.”
“We may have to consider putting the infrastructure around that,” he said.
Professor Butler said that things had “sped up” behind the scenes in relation to plans for a vaccine launch in Ireland and that her reaction to the Pfizer news was one of “mild enthusiasm and optimism.”
“There has been a lot of preparatory work since March,” he said.
“However, nothing can be concluded yet because we do not yet have the data on many of the vaccines and everything will come gradually over the next year.
“I have no doubt that when the NIAC chapter related to the Covid-19 vaccine is released, it will also go through several iterations in a very short space of time to keep up with what is coming out.”
Professor Butler said that while the Pfizer vaccine has been developed in record time, all necessary protocols will have been met if it hits the market.
“I think people’s first concern is, will it be safe?” she said.
“I think the traditional ways of doing it were very time consuming and laborious and there was a lot of room to speed up the process without compromising the scrutiny given to security and compliance with all of that.
“I think that’s what has been done in this situation. A lot of resources have been invested, which has helped that. But the same levels of scrutiny have existed in terms of vaccine development and movement through the different stages. “
Professor Butler added that “assuming all is well” and that the vaccine is licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), it will have to be distributed in stages. “There will not be enough vaccines for everyone,” he said.
The HSE said the first meeting of the government’s high-level task force tasked with launching a Covid-19 vaccine took place this week.
The group is coordinating preparations and ensuring that a nationwide deployment of a vaccine can take place when it is safe and ready to do so.
[ad_2]