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News that one of the potential coronavirus vaccines had at least a 90% efficacy rate was a “victory for science”, said K Srinath Reddy, a cardiologist and president of the Public Health Foundation of India. But it meant little to his country’s 1.3 billion citizens.
“For us, the Pfizer vaccine is more of a scientific curiosity than a practical possibility,” Reddy said.
The need to store the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at at least -70C(-94F), with its required cold-chain infrastructure, puts it out of the reach of up to two-thirds of the world’s population, including swathes of south Asia, Africa and even rural parts of the US and South America, according to German logistics company DHL.
Other potential vaccines, such as the Moderna candidate, for which clinical trial results were announced on Monday, will be easier to roll out in warm climates and resource-poor settings.
But for some time now, scientists have been busy developing a range of other ways to deliver vaccines that could bypass the need for expensive cold-chain infrastructure and the fragile glass vials often used to package doses.
www.theguardian.com
“For us, the Pfizer vaccine is more of a scientific curiosity than a practical possibility,” Reddy said.
The need to store the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at at least -70C(-94F), with its required cold-chain infrastructure, puts it out of the reach of up to two-thirds of the world’s population, including swathes of south Asia, Africa and even rural parts of the US and South America, according to German logistics company DHL.
Other potential vaccines, such as the Moderna candidate, for which clinical trial results were announced on Monday, will be easier to roll out in warm climates and resource-poor settings.
But for some time now, scientists have been busy developing a range of other ways to deliver vaccines that could bypass the need for expensive cold-chain infrastructure and the fragile glass vials often used to package doses.
Scientists race to find 'warm' Covid vaccine to solve issue of cold storage
With potential injectable vaccines estimated to be out of reach for two-thirds of world’s population, scientists hope to find less-heat-sensitive formulations
www.theguardian.com
