A sobering read from a friend of mine -
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I think we have to be realistic here in DR in that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines just will not be pratical to distribute here.
Yes preliminary results show thet have high levels of efficiay but there are not yet enough resulst for older people. And the Russsian vaccine is stated to have 95% efficacy too!
DR's best hope is the AZ/Oxford vaccine which has been tested large scale on all age groups. Their preliminary results will be announced soon.
Anyhow the issue with distribution (not to mention public confidence and nursing shortages) of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is well summed up in an article in the The Guardian today:
www.theguardian.com
Extreme storage requirements
As public health authorities work to regain public trust, they must also tackle the unprecedented cold storage requirements of the leading vaccine candidate from Pfizer and German company BioNTech.
This vaccine uses technology called a messenger RNA platform, which uses the genetic material of Covid-19 to invoke an immune response. The vaccine leads the pack because it is the quickest to manufacture.
But speed of manufacture is offset by complicated delivery. Pfizer’s vaccine needs to be stored at an unprecedented -94C (-137.2F) a temperature met only with the coldest deep freezers.
Pharmacies do not have freezers this cold, because no approved drug has ever needed to be held at this temperature. Only large medical centers, universities and perhaps some public health departments will probably have such deep freezers.
To get around this, Pfizer has developed a reusable, suitcase-sized shipping container where 975 doses of the vaccine are kept on dry ice. The vaccine is stable for 10 days from the point of departure in this case. If more dry ice can be secured, then the vaccine can be kept in the case for another 15 days.
“The clock starts well before you actually receive the product,” said Soumi Saha, an attorney, pharmacist and vice-president of advocacy at the healthcare logistics company Premier Inc.
Dry ice is considered a hazardous material, so it cannot be shipped by air or sea. It must be transported by ground, posing potentially serious challenges for rural areas where several days of vaccine viability could be lost in transit.
During this time, the case can only be opened twice a day for one minute per opening. Healthcare workers will need to take out an appropriate amount of vaccine only twice a day, meaning carefully calibrating between taking out too little and risk sending patients home, and taking out too much and risk wasting very limited doses.
These vaccines aren't for DR nor most developing nations.
March is when DR is expected to start receiving it's 10 million doses of AZ/Oxford vacccines:
[link under review]
Following the fact that the pharmaceutical company that negotiated with the country 10 million vaccines against Covid-19 reported that it started production, the Ministry of Public Health receives the advice of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
This in order to develop the logistics that will be implemented when the vaccine begins to be received, which is expected to be in March 2021.
The pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, with which the country reached an agreement, announced that it will begin its advanced distribution at the end of March 2021.
According to the Vice Minister of Collective Health, Ivelisse Acosta, the Essential Medicines Program (Promese) will be the entity that will conserve and store the product, due to its connection with massive quantities of medicines.
The official clarified that logistics is still being developed and has not reached its conclusion.
Countries and international organizations have secured millions of doses of vaccine, among them the European Union, which ordered 300 million; Australia set aside 50 million, Argentina has required 22 million and the Dominican Republic, 10 million, among many other countries.
The manufacture of the vaccine against Covid-19 will be the fastest in the history of mankind, due to the speed with which it was made.
=====================================
I think we have to be realistic here in DR in that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines just will not be pratical to distribute here.
Yes preliminary results show thet have high levels of efficiay but there are not yet enough resulst for older people. And the Russsian vaccine is stated to have 95% efficacy too!
DR's best hope is the AZ/Oxford vaccine which has been tested large scale on all age groups. Their preliminary results will be announced soon.
Anyhow the issue with distribution (not to mention public confidence and nursing shortages) of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is well summed up in an article in the The Guardian today:
Here are the major hurdles ahead for Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the US
The US must undertake the most logistically difficult vaccination campaign in history, from trust to extreme storage requirements
www.theguardian.com
Extreme storage requirements
As public health authorities work to regain public trust, they must also tackle the unprecedented cold storage requirements of the leading vaccine candidate from Pfizer and German company BioNTech.
This vaccine uses technology called a messenger RNA platform, which uses the genetic material of Covid-19 to invoke an immune response. The vaccine leads the pack because it is the quickest to manufacture.
But speed of manufacture is offset by complicated delivery. Pfizer’s vaccine needs to be stored at an unprecedented -94C (-137.2F) a temperature met only with the coldest deep freezers.
Pharmacies do not have freezers this cold, because no approved drug has ever needed to be held at this temperature. Only large medical centers, universities and perhaps some public health departments will probably have such deep freezers.
To get around this, Pfizer has developed a reusable, suitcase-sized shipping container where 975 doses of the vaccine are kept on dry ice. The vaccine is stable for 10 days from the point of departure in this case. If more dry ice can be secured, then the vaccine can be kept in the case for another 15 days.
“The clock starts well before you actually receive the product,” said Soumi Saha, an attorney, pharmacist and vice-president of advocacy at the healthcare logistics company Premier Inc.
Dry ice is considered a hazardous material, so it cannot be shipped by air or sea. It must be transported by ground, posing potentially serious challenges for rural areas where several days of vaccine viability could be lost in transit.
During this time, the case can only be opened twice a day for one minute per opening. Healthcare workers will need to take out an appropriate amount of vaccine only twice a day, meaning carefully calibrating between taking out too little and risk sending patients home, and taking out too much and risk wasting very limited doses.
These vaccines aren't for DR nor most developing nations.
March is when DR is expected to start receiving it's 10 million doses of AZ/Oxford vacccines:
[link under review]
Following the fact that the pharmaceutical company that negotiated with the country 10 million vaccines against Covid-19 reported that it started production, the Ministry of Public Health receives the advice of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
This in order to develop the logistics that will be implemented when the vaccine begins to be received, which is expected to be in March 2021.
The pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, with which the country reached an agreement, announced that it will begin its advanced distribution at the end of March 2021.
According to the Vice Minister of Collective Health, Ivelisse Acosta, the Essential Medicines Program (Promese) will be the entity that will conserve and store the product, due to its connection with massive quantities of medicines.
The official clarified that logistics is still being developed and has not reached its conclusion.
Countries and international organizations have secured millions of doses of vaccine, among them the European Union, which ordered 300 million; Australia set aside 50 million, Argentina has required 22 million and the Dominican Republic, 10 million, among many other countries.
The manufacture of the vaccine against Covid-19 will be the fastest in the history of mankind, due to the speed with which it was made.
