[M T]

All of this is contingent on having enough *checks notes* dry ice.

General Parmar indicated they had arranged for the dry ice (but exactly what that means isn't clear).  He mention no details in the briefing.  Last week, he talked about how he had gone through the process of removing a dose from the tray.  It seemed that the timing of how long the 975-dose tray is opened (in its storage container with dry ice) was important and he felt that it was doable even for someone like him.

I don't know more about dry ice - whether or how often the suitcase-sized crates need to have the dry ice replenished.  (It was mentioned that the doses have to be removed and allowed to warm up before administration to the patient.).

At 975 doses per tray, and, say, 80M (some unknown fraction of 200M doses) Pfizer doses between Dec 15 end of Feb, that's 80,000 trays.  It doesn't seem to me that 80K more uses of dry ice over 2.5 months across the entirety of the US is going to be a big supply problem.


https://www.freightwaves.com/news/breaki...warp-speed
"During an OWS weekly distribution working group call with McKesson, UPS and FedEx, we learned the FAA has established a dry ice shipping working network. FedEx is a part of that working network."

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdhhs...8520_7.pdf
"Along with vaccine, each site will receive ancillary kits and an initial dry ice resupply:
•...
•OWS will provide an initial dry ice resupply to facilitate storage in coordination with each vaccine shipment. Jurisdictions will have the option to allow sites to opt out of the initial dry ice resupply if desired. Sites will receive this initial dry ice resupply in coordination with receipt of the product, as they will need to replenish the dry ice upon product receipt. Further details about shipping and receipt of dry ice will be forthcoming.


I'm not sure what "initial dry ice resupply" means.  My guess is they deliver some dry ice with it to replace what it was shipped with upon or after arrival.  After that, it may be  up to the distributor to either have freezer units that can keep the supply at the proper temperature or the dry ice has to be replaced periodically depending upon the temperature of the freezer (ie, less often in a -20F freezer than a 0F freezer).

[M T]

All of this is contingent on having enough *checks notes* dry ice.

General Parmar indicated they had arranged for the dry ice (but exactly what that means isn't clear).  He mention no details in the briefing.  Last week, he talked about how he had gone through the process of removing a dose from the tray.  It seemed that the timing of how long the 975-dose tray is opened (in its storage container with dry ice) was important and he felt that it was doable even for someone like him.

I don't know more about dry ice - whether or how often the suitcase-sized crates need to have the dry ice replenished.  (It was mentioned that the doses have to be removed and allowed to warm up before administration to the patient.).

At 975 doses per tray, and, say, 80M (some unknown fraction of 200M doses) Pfizer doses between Dec 15 end of Feb, that's 80,000 trays.  It doesn't seem to me that 80K more uses of dry ice over 2.5 months across the entirety of the US is going to be a big supply problem.


https://www.freightwaves.com/news/breaki...warp-speed
"During an OWS weekly distribution working group call with McKesson, UPS and FedEx, we learned the FAA has established a dry ice shipping working network. FedEx is a part of that working network."

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdhhs...8520_7.pdf
"Along with vaccine, each site will receive ancillary kits and an initial dry ice resupply:
•...
•OWS will provide an initial dry ice resupply to facilitate storage in coordination with each vaccine shipment. Jurisdictions will have the option to allow sites to opt out of the initial dry ice resupply if desired. Sites will receive this initial dry ice resupply in coordination with receipt of the product, as they will need to replenish the dry ice upon product receipt. Further details about shipping and receipt of dry ice will be forthcoming.


I'm not sure what "initial dry ice resupply" means.  My guess is they deliver some dry ice with it to replace what it was shipped with upon or after arrival.  After that, it may be  up to the distributor to either have freezer units that can keep the supply at the proper temperature or the dry ice has to be replaced periodically depending upon the temperature of the freezer (ie, less often in a -20F freezer than a 0F freezer).