There have been growing concerns the very low-temperature requirements for the promising Covid-19 vaccine candidates developed by Pfizer and Moderna will lead to storage and logistics challenges that may hinder access to these vaccines in most parts of Africa and other developing regions, even in rural parts of developed countries.
The Pfizer and Moderna candidate, which have both been reported to be 95% effective in stopping Covid-19 transmission, require ultra-cold storage of -80 oC and -20 oC (-112 oF and -4 oF) respectively. These temperatures are below what can be currently obtained with most cold chain facilities in the world as the standard for vaccine storage is 2 oC to 8 oC (36 oF to 46 oF).
*The views of the above article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Africa Speaks 4 Africa or its editorial team.
