USA TODAY International Edition
Company plays pivotal role in vaccine delivery
AeroSafe Global offers tightly controlled, cold- chain shipping
ROCHESTER, N. Y. – Inside a sprawling, nondescript production facility on the west side of this city, dozens of employees are putting in long days and weekends to help end the pandemic.
Their work is essential. Developing vaccines for COVID- 19 has been a herculean task. Getting those millions of vials safely into the hands of hospitals and pharmacies, and out to nursing homes, is another.
And that is where AeroSafe Global and its Rochester- area partners come in.
The company is developing, testing and producing tens of thousands of custom- designed ultra- cold shipping containers to distribute COVID- 19 vaccine. Each is sized to hold specific amounts of vaccine, and each container can be monitored and tracked in real time across the United States and places overseas.
“This isn’t new,” AeroSafe CEO Jay McHarg said of operation. “What’s new is the urgency.”
The company and its 200 Rochester employees also make smaller, shoulder bag units – manufactured entirely with locally sourced components. It’s those containers that have allowed Walgreens and CVS pharmacists to carry vaccine the critical “last mile,” to begin vaccinations at nursing homes across the United States.
“It’s a global effort that’s happening here. And the people in Rochester are benefiting from the work people are doing – in Rochester,” McHarg said.
“We never touch the vaccine,” McHarg said.
Rather, they produce and make ready the containers.
Customized solutions
The universe of companies capable of ( and thus working on) the tightly controlled, cold- chain shipping necessary for the vaccines is “very, very small,” he said. AeroSafe is sole contractor making the units for Walgreens and CVS, for example.
Other local partners include IEC Electronics, Fieldtex, CY Plastics and Casual Fridays. Irish Propane is also in the mix, providing dry ice pellets needed to keep the Pfizer vaccine at minus 70 degrees Celsius. The company is shipping dry ice straight to pharmacies where its containers double as shortterm coolers.
AeroSafe was founded 15 years ago as American Aerogel, making insulation and shipping boxes. The company pivoted seven years ago to a full- service, cold- chain packaging and services operation – even reclaiming and reusing its containers.
The company has five satellite locations globally, including locations in Louisville, Kentucky, and Reno, Nevada. Add in partner locations and the number of production sites rises to 15. Its client/ partners list includes Pfizer, Merck, Gilead and NASA.
“Everything we do is custom,” McHarg said. “Customers tell us what they need, and we build a solution.”
Work on the vaccine carriers began six months ago.
This isn’t run- of- the- mill stuff. The “coolers” are assembled from specially made carbon plates that, while barely an inch thick, would require a heat particle to travel the length of a football field all told to get to the other side. Those are then vacuum sealed in foil, and assembled into boxes sized to fit a specific number of vaccine vials. Each container also is equipped with electronics that monitor temperature, vibration, light intrusion and location, transmitting that data in real time.
All of this is critical for the pharmaceutical companies to assure the Food and Drug Administration of product control.
The pharma companies add the vaccine and send the shipments.
And when those shipments arrive, the recipient will get a call from AeroSafe directing them to close up and place the box outside, once it has been emptied. One of any number of shipping companies ( UPS, DHL, etc) is then sent to retrieve it.
Once back in an AeroSafe facility, the units are broken down, assessed for any damage, and reassembled for the next shipment – dramatically reducing the company and its partners’ carbon footprint and landfill waste.
“We’re basically running off the energy,” McHarg said of what has been an exhausting run with front- office staff also pitching in on the lines. “Everybody is putting in 12- hour days. And on weekends, we are here.”
‘ It’s home’
A similar story is told by CY Plastics, which produces the coolant packs AeroSafe then fills with specialty chemicals that freeze or thaw at set temperatures.
Those packs get inserted in the shoulder bag boxes to keep the Pfizer vaccine, once thawed from minus 70, at the required 5 degrees, or the Moderna vaccine at the needed minus 20 degrees, until ready for use.
“There is a lot of pride that goes into being able to say we’re making products used in the distributing of ( COVID- 19) vaccines,” said CY Plastics President Andy Molodetz.
The company employs 65 people, typically working three shifts, five days a week. Lately, they have been running seven days a week, he said.
AeroSafe is the reason for one of the extra days, but only occupies a couple of the production machines, he said, noting other surges in demand from a Utica, New York, customer whose lawn sprayers have been repurposed for COVID- 19 disinfecting, and Crosman Corporation, which has seen increased demand for its BB guns during the pandemic, he said.
While many companies slowed, shut down or gone remote: “We’ve been here the whole time,” Molodetz said.
Last week, McHarg got a text from a neighbor. She works as a pharmacist at a local CVS. The message had a picture of the black shoulder bag, which had arrived in her store embroidered with CVSpharmacy and, below that, “Protected by AeroSafe Global.”