Prognosis
Deep-Freeze Hurdle Makes Pfizer’s Vaccine One for the Rich
- Vaccine goes bad five days after thawing, requires two shots
- Many nations face costly ramp up of cold-chain infrastructure
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When Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s Covid-19 vaccine rolls off production lines, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. will be waiting to distribute it through a complex and costly system of deep-freeze airport warehouses, refrigerated vehicles and inoculation points across China.
After they reach vaccination centers, the shots must be thawed from -70 degrees celsius and injected within five days, if not they go bad.