Freezing business could help transport vaccines to Africa

A South African company is looking to help solve the logistical nightmare of keeping Covid-19 vaccines at the ultra-cold temperatures needed as they ship across the continent.

Johannesburg-based natural gas producer Renergen is developing an ultra-cold biological transport freezer for the task as countries across Africa plan to roll out comprehensive vaccination programs.

Vaccines jointly developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech must be stored at -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), far from what much of rural Africa can withstand.

Wealthier countries have taken advantage of their vast storage and distribution infrastructure to accumulate stocks of photos of these companies.

Renergen’s design will use helium to transport vials by air and nitrogen by road, keeping them between -150 and 8 degrees Celsius, CEO Stefano Marani said on Wednesday.

The storage box, called Cryo-Vacc, can run without a power supply for more than 25 days, he said.

Vaccines are often transported to Africa in dry ice which usually only last about three days.

Marani said their largest container could hold between 5,000 and 6,000 vials.

The aluminum enclosures are also fitted with tracking devices and monitors to evenly distribute freezing temperatures.

A prototype of Cryo-Vacc, which the company says could help solve vaccine logistics problems in Africa. By LUCA SOLA (AFP)

“It was designed to be sturdy and sturdy,” he told AFP.

“It was designed for the field. You can hit it, you can drop it, you can leave it in the sun, it doesn’t care, it will run until it runs out of cryogen,” he said. said Marani.