[ad_1]
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea: Some of the rooms in Korea’s coldest Superfreeze warehouse are so cold that a cup of warm water thrown into one will immediately turn to snow.
Located 40 miles below Seoul and with temperatures colder than an Antarctic winter, the facility would be the best, perhaps the only place in South Korea suitable for bulk storage of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, says the director. company executive, Kim Jin-ha.
“As soon as we found out about the Pfizer vaccine, we started preparing … other options would not work,” Kim told Reuters, adding that using liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the warehouse to keep temperatures cool beat electricity.
Warehouses that use electricity would have a difficult time maintaining the -70 degrees Celsius required by the vaccine for storage and risk the temperature rising during a blackout, he said.
The company, which is backed by Goldman Sachs and SK Holdings, has been in talks with the Korea Agency for Disease Prevention and Control since early November, and while nothing has been decided yet, expectations are high that get a contract.
READ: South Korea mobilizes military in Seoul as COVID-19 cases rise, deaths rise
The agency has asked Korea Superfreeze to provide plans and cost estimates for storing and distributing vaccines, including how it would handle a scenario where vaccines would be shipped to 260 different locations, Kim said.
South Korea has agreed to buy 20 million doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The country also has agreements for 20 million doses each of the vaccines developed by Moderna and AstraZeneca Plc / Oxford University and for another 4 million doses from Johnson & Johnson.
In total, that would be enough to inoculate 34 million people in a country of 51.8 million and shipments are expected to begin no later than March.
READ: South Korea to buy millions of doses of vaccines as COVID-19 cases rise
Kim said, however, that it was unclear whether the agency would turn to the company for vaccines other than those from Pfizer, which have less burdensome cold storage requirements. Moderna’s vaccine can be stored for up to six months at -20 degrees Celsius, while AstraZeneca’s vaccine only needs normal refrigerator temperatures.
To accommodate Pfizer’s vaccine, Korea Superfreeze is planning a dedicated hallway and elevator so there is no interference from outside temperatures. Once you confirm you have a contract, construction will begin, which can take 2-3 months.
The warehouse also has 220 closed-circuit cameras that monitor idle cargo throughout the day, Kim said.
He added that South Korea and Japan were the only countries with LNG facilities that can offer storage at these temperatures and that warehouses in Japan were much smaller and further apart due to earthquake risks.
All in all, Korea Superfreeze rooms capable of storing goods at -70 degrees total 1,600 square meters. But it’s not yet clear how much of that will be needed, as the company has yet to determine how big the containers with the vaccines will be and how much will be shipped to South Korea at one time.
Kim said, however, that some regular customers of the warehousing facilities might be inconvenienced.
“For tuna and other goods that are kept here at -60 degrees, we will have to ask their permission, compensate them and get them out of here.”
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
