Concerns have also been raised about how Pfizer will manufacture and ship the vaccine to hospitals and pharmacies across the globe. Pfizer is manufacturing the vaccine in Kalamazoo Michigan and in Belgium; for Americans, the majority of vaccine doses will come from the Great Lakes state. It is up to federal and state governments, however, to decide to whom to appropriate the doses and the number to request. As mentioned, the vaccine preparation uses mRNA that, once inside your body, enters cells and is coded to produce a protein that mimics spikes on the outside of the coronavirus. These spike proteins “trick” your immune system into responding to this foreign entity as if it were coronavirus.
The mRNA needs to be kept at temperatures well below zero (more specifically, negative 70 degrees Celsius, which is equivalent to negative 94 degrees Fahrenheit); otherwise, the vaccine will denature (fall apart) and be rendered ineffective and unusable. Pfizer has designed reusable boxes filled with dry ice to keep the vials of vaccine cold enough, and shipping companies, including UPS and FedEx, have designed special compartments to send and deliver the vaccine vials. These special containers hold between 1000 and 5000 vials.
One potential advantage of the Moderna candidate, which relies on similar mRNA and, therefore, still requires cold storage, is that the temperatures needed for this vaccine to stay stable up to 30 days resemble standard refrigerators and freezers available in pharmacies and hospitals.
Many details are yet to be determined, including that Pfizer reports the plan to ship 50 million doses in December. Twenty-five million of those vials are slated for distribution in the U.S., while the other 25 million will go to other countries. That means that 12.5 million Americans can be vaccinated during this first round, since each person receives two doses, three weeks apart.