Precious dry ice ‘Pfizer Vaccine Transport Ticket’ … “Don’t even use the club”

Pfizer Corona 19 vaccine from Pfizer of the United States that maintains its efficacy only when stored in a ‘minus 70’ condition. There is a person who has become a precious body with an unprecedented ‘cryogenic vaccine’ vaccination at hand. It’s dry ice. ‘ Pfizer vaccines made from genetic material, mRNA, are temperature sensitive and lose their effectiveness if cryogenic conditions are not met. Dry ice is then placed in the storage box containing the vaccine.

Dry ice. The corona vaccine being developed by Pfizer needs to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius. [트위터 캡처]

On the 11th (local time), according to foreign media such as the British Telegraph and the Daily Mail, voices of concern began to emerge that the shortage of dry ice could delay the supply of vaccines. The corona vaccine, which is being developed by Pfizer and German Bioentech, is expected to be supplied in 1.35 billion doses at home and abroad by next year. It is the first time that a vaccine has to be transferred to dry ice, but the scale is also significant.

Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious medicine at Korea University Guro Hospital, said: “In a simple explanation, you can store the flu vaccine (4 degree image) in the refrigerator and the Modena Corona 19 vaccine ( minus 20 degrees Celsius) at freezer temperature He said, “It’s hard to predict how much dry ice will be needed,” he said.

The Corona 19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer must be stored at -70 degrees to remain effective. [로이터=연합뉴스]

Toby Peters, a professor at the University of Birmingham, UK, told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) that “the logistical capacity to deliver vaccines at cryogenic temperature (previously) did not exist anywhere on Earth. It will be a new challenge. “. Said.

Dry ice refers to carbon dioxide gas converted to a solid state through a process such as compression and cooling. Since the demand for frozen food for home delivery has increased due to the Corona 19 crisis, the demand for dry ice has already increased. Furthermore, the production of substances such as carbon dioxide necessary to make dry ice is insufficient due to the effects of containment measures.

An image of a storage box containing the corona vaccine being developed by Pfizer. In this there is dry ice. [트위터 캡처]

According to Gas World, which provides news from the global gas industry, dry ice manufacturers and distributors predict that demand for dry ice will increase when the corona vaccine begins shipping in full next year.

The president of a dry ice company said: “As the demand for dry ice for food delivery increases, we are concerned about the shortage of dry ice.” Another president of the company said: “The shortage of dry ice is serious” and “stocks run out in 3 hours.

With the demand for dry ice increasing, even in the UK, there are voices saying: ‘Isn’t it hard to see the smoke machines in clubs that reopened after the lockdown was lifted? dry ice is used for special effects that emit smoke.

Smoke comes out with dry ice in the club. [트위터 캡처]

However, the Compressed Gas Association of America (CGA) said that “as a result of the findings of the member companies, the dry ice production capacity is expected to be sufficient to meet the expected demand from manufacturers of vaccines “. In addition, Pfizer also explained that “we have developed a logistics plan for the effective storage and transportation of vaccines.”

Airlines are limiting the amount of dry ice for the safety of passengers and crew. Consequently, FedEx, a special aviation transportation company, has also obtained special approval from civil aviation regulators to allow large quantities of dry ice to be loaded onto aircraft for the transportation of Pfizer vaccines.

Reporter Lim Sun-young [email protected]