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After the giddy welcome yesterday it’s clear today that getting the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to those that need it will be a massive effort. "Huge logistical challenge" barely covers it. Thread 1/
Pfizer is manufacturing its vaccine for European consumption in Belgium. It might have been made here but the company's factory at Havant in Hampshire ceased production and distribution at the end of October, making the UK a trickier customer 2/
Assuming Pfizer’s can meets its pre-orders - 40m in the UK alone - distribution will be the hard part, primarily because of the need to keep doses below -70C. This requires serious infrastructure, protective equipment, safety protocols & smooth, rapid dispensing 3/
The standard ‘cold chain’ temperature range of 2C - 8C, using refrigerated lorries and warehouses, won’t do the job. So the "hub-and-spoke" system used to deliver high volumes of say, frozen peas or flu jabs, where the product goes from factory to distributor to lorry, is out 4/
Instead Pfizer & its clients will effectively use a courier system, considerably more expensive and challenging. The plan is to send the vaccine out in GPS-tracked thermal containers packed with dry ice - super-cool boxes - carrying 1,000 to 5,000 doses 5/
They’ll be shipped close to where they’re needed before final mile distribution. To reduce the refrigeration demands that probably means air-freight rather than ferries and vans, not lorries. On the plus side this may help avoid the nightmare of Brexit hold-ups after Jan 1st 5/
Once they’ve got here a box of 1,000 doses won’t go that far. The average GP surgery has around 2,000 patients. Around 8% of them, based on UK population figs, will be over-75 & (priority group 1 &2). That’s 160 people, needing 320 doses, so one box supplies three surgeries 6/
Those distributing the doses in the final stage will need protective gear and a slick system. Boxes can only be opened twice per-day & only for a minute. And once the dose is out of the dry ice it has to be used fast, with a reported fridge-life of 24 hours to five days 7/
Little wonder the Army has been drafted in, and why hopes are still high for equally effective but less logistically challenging viruses to get the green light soon. This may make mass testing look straightforward... ends/
