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On Sunday, December 27, the administration of the coronavirus vaccine will begin in Europe and in recent days there has been much talk about the “cold chain”, that is, about the need to store and transport doses at -70 ° C, keeping them at that temperature until recently before administration. Vaccines will be stored in large quantities in so-called ultra-refrigerators, which have received a lot of attention for some time, but will then have to be transported in small quantities to the many vaccination points that will be installed in different countries.
It will be a fundamental stage in the transport of the coronavirus vaccines, which will be distributed on a very large scale, which requires a demanding organization. Doses, in fact, must be able to reach everyone, even in the most difficult-to-reach places without the risk that the vaccine could perish. Even in those where there are no refrigerators or where electricity is scarce. In the WHO catalog that shows the products tested and certified to be used during the transport of vaccines there are also those of an Italian company: Gio’Style.
Gio’Style It is based in Urgnano, in the province of Bergamo, and manufactures hermetic containers for food, cold packs, portable refrigerators. It is one of the Italian companies best known for this type of product, which many have probably used during their vacations.
The product of Gio’Style on the WHO list it has a legend name: “PortaVaccino”. It is a passive refrigerator, that is, it does not have a motor and therefore does not need electricity. It looks like a normal gray box. It has a capacity of 2.6 liters and weighs little: 1.8 kilos empty, up to 6.5 kilos full. It has all the features of a rigid cooler, like those used on the beach or for picnics, but compared to a normal passive cooler it can keep temperatures low for many hours. The Italian company has been producing “PortaVaccino” for about thirty years, but in recent months the research and development department of Gio’Style He had to rethink some parts and do new tests because the refrigerator was not designed to maintain a temperature between -70 ° C and -80 ° C, as required by the vaccine from the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
– Read also: Freezers will also be needed for the vaccine.
Christian Abbadini, manager of the technical office at Gio’Style, says the biggest difference is the use of dry ice. «To transport a normal vaccine, normal containers filled with water and frozen are enough, like the ones we have always used in this product. In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, however, dry ice pellets must be used, ”explains Abbadini. “Our tests show that the temperature is stable at -70 ° C for 26 hours, then there is a slow rise to 5 ° C for another 42 hours.” According to the procedure explained in the circular published by the Italian Society of Hospital Pharmacy (Sifo) and the Italian Society of Preparatory Pharmacists (Sifap), the vials must be thawed slowly and the vaccine can be stored for up to five days at a temperature between 2 ° C and 8 ° C. Efficacy is guaranteed even at 25 ° C, but only for up to two hours.
The production of the “PortaVaccino” has no great secrets. It is built on established technology. “To ensure efficient insulation, we use a thick layer of polyurethane foam, with cells close together to avoid heat exchange,” continues Abbadini. The gasket, also made of polyurethane, is also very important to seal the lid ”. On the cap, as prescribed by WHO, there is a red label with the words “STOP! Do you need to open it? “(“ Do you really need to open it? ”) To remind those who will have to handle it not to open it sooner than expected, risking wasting doses.
All products that are included in the official catalog of the World Health Organization must first pass a test called “performance quality safetyBut all manufacturers of packaging to transport vaccines are waiting for the new specifications that are being studied. For the moment, the WHO considers valid the tests carried out by the different companies on their products. In addition to maintaining low temperatures, one of the most curious tests refers to the solidity of the container, which must keep the vials in perfect condition even in the event of a helicopter launch. Small passive refrigerators, in fact, are specially designed for countries where it is difficult to have an extended distribution network keeping the cold chain at -70 ° C.
– Read also: Questions and Answers About the Coronavirus Vaccine
Abbadini explains that its main clients are the WHO itself and the ministries of health of the countries that have to organize vaccination campaigns in inaccessible places, where there is no possibility of installing too many ultra-refrigerators due to the enormous consumption of electricity. The vaccine manufactured by Pfizer must be administered in two doses 21 days apart, so in some more remote areas small batches must be shipped with a higher shipping frequency than other vaccines, always respecting the supply chain. cold.
For example, the use of passive refrigerators (which usually does not cost more than 100 euros) could be useful in Africa, where vaccinations will not start until mid-2021. John Nkengasong, director of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, published in Nature an article in which he argues that it will be necessary to guarantee 1.5 billion doses to vaccinate 60% of the 1.3 billion people living in Africa. These are huge figures, which require organizational efforts and particular logistics to reach all the inhabitants of the continent.
– Read also: Allergic reactions to vaccines.
Therefore, passive refrigerators will not be essential in countries like Italy, but in the coming months it will be possible to understand if the organization of the Italian vaccination campaign will be effective as expected: it is not ruled out that these containers could be useful in the most far away. of the big cities. They can be taken anywhere, thanks to their limited weight, and could be used by doctors to vaccinate non-self-sufficient people, who cannot travel from home to get to clinics or vaccination points.
Pfizer has also studied an intermediate solution, to be used in the event that freezers are not available. The pharmaceutical company produces boxes called “cold boxThat can keep between a thousand and five thousand doses of vaccine, also in this case thanks to dry ice, for a maximum of ten days.
However, considering the large number of stored doses, cold box it cannot always be used for the last phase of the cold chain. In fact, the time taken to administer the doses must be added to the transfer times and if you have many thousands of doses of vaccine somewhere, you must be reasonably sure that you can use them before they perish.
Everything depends, therefore, on the organization of the vaccination campaign, and above all on the number of people who can be vaccinated every day at a single vaccination point. Many problems are unprecedented and may require more practical solutions than ultra-coolers or cold box. Gio’Style It already has 20,000 packages of vaccines and in recent weeks it has started the production of a batch of 100,000 pieces.
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