Cold facts dash vaccine hopes, but optimism persists

Sri Lankans, like all others around the globe, are anxiously waiting for the week’s best news regarding a vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is after Pfizer, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, announced that its two- part COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective at preventing the disease. However, the availability will involve a lot of delays, says the TIME magazine’s Coronavirus Brief circulated worldwide including Sri Lanka.

This is what it says, “If borne out by yet- to- be- published data and granted approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a vaccine with efficacy levels that high could make a serious dent in a pandemic that continues to set new records daily in the U.S. and ravage the rest of the world.

“But creating a vaccine and getting it approved are only the first steps. ‘The asterisk is that actually getting the vaccine to people who need it will not be easy,’ says TIME’s Jamie Ducharme, who recently wrote about the challenges facing Pfizer’s vaccine. Among them: the genetic material ( called mRNA) used to make the vaccine breaks down unless it is kept at ultra-low temperatures, so the vaccine must be stored at - 94° F, requiring expensive specialised freezers. That complicates the rollout logistics for under-resourced communities, like rural areas, nursing homes and developing nations.

“A lack of fancy freezers isn’t the only obstacle. Dosing out Pfizer’s vaccine requires a strong type of glass that is in short supply, and distributing it requires dry ice, which is already in high demand because it’s used in food delivery. “Even once the vaccine is approved, distributing it will still be a huge logistical challenge,” Jamie says.

“Some potential solutions h ave been pro p o s e d . Centralising vaccine distribution in large “vaccine depots,” as some U.S. states are considering, may make it easier to corral resources. But doing so comes with additional problems, like staffing, cost and long travel times for vaccine recipients. Other, hardier vaccines could also eventually prove effective. And further medical innovation may eventually yield a version of the Pfizer vaccine that does not require such extreme storage measures— but that will, of course, take time.

“The freezer in your kitchen likely gets down to temperatures around - 20° C (- 4° F). “That keeps your ice cream cold, but it doesn’t turn your ice cream into an impenetrable block of ice,” says Paula Cannon, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.

“Pfizer’s promising COVID – 19 vaccine, must be stored at about -70°C (-94°F)—a temperature cold enough to harden ice cream into a spoon- breaking block of ice, and that only specialised freezers can produce.

“Those cold storage requirements are raising serious questions about who could get the Pfizer vaccine if it’s approved, and when. The reality, experts say, is that the Pfizer vaccine probably will not be available to everyone, at least not right away. Large medical centers and urban centers are the most likely to have the resources necessary for ultracold storage. People without access to these facilities, such as those living in rural areas, nursing homes and developing nations, may have to wait for other vaccines working their way through the development pipeline.”