Vaccine Preparedness: Will Your Pharmacy Be Ready?
Some vaccines like it cold, but some coronavirus vaccines in the pipeline like it really cold! For the leading candidates, this means -94 degrees Fahrenheit (Pfizer) or -4 degrees Fahrenheit (Moderna).
This will present challenges for delivery and storage of this critical vaccine. Pharmacy professionals will need to be prepared to safely store and distribute these vaccines when they are available. Freezers, transportation containers and temperature monitoring are among basic considerations.
To be prepared, you will need to follow updates as they are published. At this time, most information is presented via news releases, rather than peer-reviewed journals. The New York Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html is one site that provides a helpful overview and is updated regularly. Below are some key details for COVID-19 vaccines, published to date:
• Efficacy: According to interim results of Phase Three trials, the Pfizer vaccine is 90% effective, and Moderna posts 94.5% effectiveness. Both values exceed the FDA’s initial expectations of 50%.
• Dosing: Both vaccines will require two shots – three weeks between doses for Pfizer, and four weeks between doses for Moderna. There are single-dose vaccines currently in trials.
• Storage/transportation temperature: Pfizer -94 degrees F; Moderna -4 degrees F. The temperature requirements vary due to differences in proprietary formulations of fat used to encase and protect the mRNA coronavirus genetic material. If not handled properly, vaccines can become inactive.
• Shelf-life: Pfizer’s product has a refrigerated shelf life of five days, while Moderna reports a shelf life under refrigeration of 30 days, and 12 hours at room temperature. Of note, studies are ongoing that could change these data, as well as that for storage and transportation requirements.
• FDA approval: Both Pfizer and Moderna plan to apply “within weeks” to the FDA for emergency authorization to begin vaccinating the public. Professionals should be aware that emergency authorization differs from the FDA’s approval process.
• Projected doses by end of 2020: Pfizer estimates it will have 25 million doses available for Americans and Moderna predicts availability of 20 million doses by the end of the year.
As COVID-19 increases its pace of infections — 53 million cases worldwide, 11 million in the US — vaccines will surely play an essential role in controlling this pandemic. Will your pharmacy be ready?