Adam Tetz , director of Worldwide Marketing at Peli Biothermal offers a summary of the temperature requirements needed to transport, store and use Covid-19 vaccines.
When the first Covid-19 cases were reported, no one could have predicted the devastating impact this virus would wreak worldwide.
Developing Covid vaccines was the first step in the fight back against the virus. The world then faced the significant challenges of having to protect, transport and safely store temperature sensitive pandemic payloads worldwide.
Developing effective Covid-19 vaccines is only part of the battle in the ongoing fight against the virus. It’s imperative the cold chain is maintained during shipping and storage, ensuring approved vaccines can be deployed worldwide without affecting the efficacy of any life-saving jabs.
It had been anticipated that the first year of the international inoculation programme would be dominated by the need globally for a complex, costly infrastructure, including vast freezer farms providing storage at temperatures of -80C.
However this has not been the case as temperature requirements have changed according to the rising range of vaccines being developed, approved and administered.
Collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) resulted in the approval of the transportation and storage of vaccines at more manageable temperatures, including -20C and 2C – 8C.
The advantage of the introduction of vaccines which can be stored in a standard refrigerator at 2-8 degrees Celsius makes them more useful and accessible to developing countries, which may not be able to store large amounts of vaccine at low temperatures.
Although some vaccines still need extreme temperature requirements, which are more difficult and costly to maintain, requiring more exotic coolants such as dry ice to achieve -80C, what we continue to see are the various vaccines’ tight temperature shipping and storage requirements changing at a rapid rate.
Temperature conditions are determined by the requirement of the vaccine or therapeutic that’s developed and subsequently approved. We are now seeing the introduction of vaccines requiring more easily controlled temperatures during transit, storage and inoculation including -20C or +5C.
These temperature requirements can be maintained via the existing infrastructure of refrigerators and freezers, which are already in place at clinics and hospitals. It also aids the ongoing deployment of vaccines to more remote regions which are harder to reach or do not have the necessary infrastructure in place to transport and store vaccines requiring extreme temperature protection.
A summary of vaccine storage and transportation temperatures.
To meet the stringent temperature requirements for vaccine distribution from manufacturer to clinics, hospitals or pop-up vaccination centres, specialised thermal packaging products have been adapted and produced within the industry that are designed to protect and perform for every step of these vaccine journeys.
The temperature requirements for shipping and storage can be complex and as additional approved vaccines are produced the logistics of transporting temperature sensitive pandemic payloads plays a major part in ensuring the worldwide vaccination programme remains on track.
VACCINES PROVIDING PANDEMIC PROTECTION
Although the shipping and storage requirements of emerging temperature sensitive vaccines vary, they all need protection to mitigate potential temperature excursions during transportation.
So how do the current approved vaccines compare when it comes to temperature transportation and storage requirements?
- Pfizer –BioNTech – The first Covid-19 vaccine approved for use in the UK and US, this RNA vaccine incorporates part of the virus genetic code and is administered in two doses. It can be stored at -70C for seven months. It can be stored at -25C to -15C for up to two weeks (unpunctured vials) or undiluted/unthawed at +2C to +8 for 120 hours (US FDA – 1 month undiluted/unthawed) or room temperature (max +25C) for two hours.
- Moderna - Also approved for use in the UK and US, this RNA vaccine is also administered in two doses. Can be stored at – 20C for six months. Unpunctured vials can be stored in a refrigerator at +2C to +8C for up to 30 days. Punctured vials can be stored at +8C to +25C for up to 24 hours.
- Oxford – AstraZeneca – Currently approved for use in the UK, Europe and being administered in numerous countries worldwide. This viral vector vaccine (genetically modified virus) is administered in two doses. Can be stored at regular fridge temperature of 2C to 8C for six months. Temperature requirements make it more manageable to ship to more remote regions.
- Janssen – Approved for use in the UK and US this viral vector single dose vaccine can be stored at a regular fridge temperature of 2C to 8C for three months.
- Novavax – Awaiting approval for use in the UK and US this protein-based vaccine requires two doses and can be stored at regular fridge temperature of 2C to 8C for six months.
- Gamaleya (Sputnik V) – This viral vector vaccine is currently being administered in Russia from where it originates, with Slovakia and Hungary also administering the two dose vaccine. Can be stored at -18.5C (liquid form) and storage in a refrigerator at +2 to +8C for up to two months, with ongoing developments to extend storage to six months.
- Sinovac (CoronaVac) – China’s inactivated virus vaccine is currently being administered in several countries including Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey as well as China. It is the second Chinese vaccine (after the Sinopharm jab) to recently be granted approval for emergency use by the WHO. The vaccine can be stored at regular fridge temperature of 2C to 8C for 12 months and at room temperature not to exceed +25.
- Sinopharm – This two dose inactivated virus vaccine has a temperature storage requirement of 2C to 8C.
- Covaxin (Bharat Biotech) – Another inactivated virus vaccine administered in two doses with a storage requirement of 2C to 8C.