Pfizer’s Covid vaccine ‘must be stored at MINUS 70C in special suitcases’

Pfizer’s Covid vaccine must be stored at minus 70C in special suitcase-like storage boxes, sparking concerns that it could delay the roll out.

Hopes of an end to the months of Covid-enforced disruption were raised yesterday when the New York based medical firm announced their vaccine revealed its jab is 90 percent effective.

But concerns have now been raised about the amount of special equipment needed to store the vaccine ahead of its use.

According to reports in the Times, the vaccine must be stored at minus 70C up until the day it is used in order to protect the genetic material inside.

This could make it difficult for GP clinics and care homes to store, the reports add.

To combat the issue, the American drug maker has designed a special suitcase-sized box to help deliver the vaccines.

The British Army will also likely be called in to support the distribution efforts.

But the vaccines must be stored in dry ice – a solid form of carbon dioxide which mixed with other substances can create a cold ice bath of around minus 78C.

And, according to leaked Pfizer documents, the suitcases containing the doses can only be opened for a minute at time and not more than twice a day, the Times reports, making it difficult to supply the doses to patients.

The report comes after chair of the government’s vaccines taskforce Kate Bingham warned last week that providing the vaccine would be challenging.

She said: ‘(These types of vaccines) may be relatively straightforward to manufacture initially but the cost of deployment and the complexity of deployment is very high.’

Yesterday it was revealed that the global race to find a COVID-19 vaccine had taken a huge leap forward when Pfizer revealed its jab is 90 percent effective.

Pfizer, which developed a vaccine with German drugmaker BioNTech, is the first to release successful data based on an interim analysis from a large-scale coronavirus vaccine clinical trial.

The announcement from the two pharma companies fuelled hope that the global pandemic could come to an end as Pfizer hailed the vaccine victory a ‘great day for science and humanity’.

The United States has already paid $1.95 billion for 100 million initial doses of the vaccine and Pfizer says it could have up to 50 million doses available by the end of this year if approved.

Boris Johnson promised the UK will be at the ‘front of the pack’ for the new coronavirus vaccine after the massive breakthrough. 

Today it has been revealed physicians Ugur Sahin and Oezlem Tuereci, who bonded over their love of medical research, are the married couple behind the Covid-19 vaccine that could change the world.

Mr Sahin came from humble roots to build two billion-dollar companies but still rides to work on his mountain bike.

Now the ‘modest’ 55-year-old physician turned chief executive of a German biotech firm and his wife Oezlem Tuereci, 53, a fellow board member of BioNTech, are being hailed as the ‘dream team’ behind the world’s hopes for a Covid vaccine.

Born in Turkey, Mr Sahin was raised in Germany, where his parents worked in a Ford factory. Trained as a doctor, Mr Sahin became a professor and researcher focused on immunotherapy.

He worked at teaching hospitals in Cologne and the south western city of Homburg, where he met immunologist Miss Tuereci during his early academic career. Medical research and oncology became a shared passion.

Miss Tuereci, the daughter of a Turkish physician who had migrated to Germany, once said in an interview that even on the day of their wedding, both made time for lab work.

Together they honed in on the immune system as a potential ally in the fight against cancer and tried to address the unique genetic makeup of each tumour.

Life as entrepreneurs started in 2001 when they set up Ganymed Pharmaceuticals to develop cancer-fighting antibodies, but Mr Sahin – by then a professor at Mainz university – never gave up academic research and teaching. Ganynmed was sold to Japan’s Astellas in 2016 for $1.4 (£1.06) billion.

Mr Sahin and Miss Tuereci co-founded BioNTech in 2008, with the aim of pursuing a much broader range of cancer immunotherapy tools. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested $55 (£41.8) million in the company, which also works on HIV and tuberculosis programmes.

Colleagues describe Mr Sahin as a calm and measured man who avoids checking the company’s share price and is more interested in reading scientific journals.

He and his wife now figure among the 100 richest Germans, according to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

But Matthias Kromayer, a board member of venture capital firm MIG AG, whose funds have backed BioNTech, said: ‘Despite his achievements, he never changed from being incredibly humble and personable.’

He added Mr Sahin would typically walk into business meetings wearing jeans and carrying his signature bicycle helmet and backpack with him.

Matthias Theobald, a fellow oncology professor at Mainz university who has worked with Mr Sahin for 20 years, said: ‘He is a very modest person. Appearances mean little to him. But he wants to create the structures that allow him to realise his visions and that’s where his aspirations are far from modest.’

The PM tonight tried to cool hopes of an early end to lockdown after Pfizer and BioNTech revealed that early results from a massive clinical trial suggest nine out of 10 people who get their jab are protected by it.

The UK could get 10million doses of coronavirus vaccine by Christmas, with expert raising expectations that the life could be ‘back to normal’ by the Spring.

The FTSE 100 index is on track for its best day since March, with shares in airlines and hospitality firms spiking globally – although Zoom saw its value plunge.