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Africa News of Thursday February 18, 2021
Source: africanews.com
02/18/2021
It has been suggested that a South African freezer can make vaccines more effective
A South African natural gas company, Renergen, is using its knowledge of cryogenics to develop a prototype ultra-cold biological transport freezer, CryoVacc.
The freezer was created to maintain constant internal temperatures between 8 and -150 C for more than 25 days – and without the need for external power sources.
Could this be a possible solution to safely transport the COVID-19 vaccine to rural areas?
Company CEO Stefano Marani seems to think so.
“In a lot of these places where you have these rural settlements, you don’t have the kind of electricity you need to be able to plug something in. Now the other challenge you have is having a freezer which is very transportable and can get you down to minus 70 degrees Celsius. “
No electricity needed for mobile freezer storage
Marani truly believes that CryoVacc will be particularly useful in delivering the COVID-19 vaccine – and even other vaccines, to large rural populations in Africa, Asia and Latin America who may not have access to proper storage and transport for extended periods.
With billions of people likely to need around two doses of coronavirus vaccine to achieve global herd immunity, a vaccine rollout to these hard-to-reach areas could be a logistical nightmare in this unprecedented health crisis.
Marani presents CroVacc as a viable option to overcome potential transport and storage issues.
“You have a full Internet of Things combined in the box to know at all times exactly where it is, what the chain of custody looks like … and most importantly, you can validate that what is happening in your arm has followed a proper orderly process in regards to maintaining an exact temperature by moving from point A to point B. And most importantly, even in the field, in a rural area where you have no electricity. “
Monopolization of immunization and campaign inequalities
Perhaps a game changer as the United Nations on Wednesday called for a coordinated global effort to vaccinate against the coronavirus – warning that gaping inequalities in initial efforts put the entire planet at risk.
Foreign ministers virtually gathered for a first-ever session of the United Nations Security Council on immunizations convened by the current British president, who said the world has a “moral duty” to act together against the COVID-19 pandemic that claimed the lives of more than 2.4 million people. people.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also mentioned the fact that only 10 countries have administered 75% of the doses to date, while 130 countries have had none.
He said the group of the 20 most financially advantaged economies was in the best position to create a global immunization financing and implementation task force – offering the full support of the United Nations to achieve it.
We are very proud to announce the completion and successful operation of our first Cryo-VaccTM prototype, which was presented to South African media this morning at our headquarters. #helium #cryovacc #vaccinationrollout https://t.co/sHZyqMStSm
– Renergen (@RenergenJHB) February 15, 2021
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