Covid vaccine: How will we keep it cold enough?

Covid vaccine: How will we keep it cold enough? Health Secretary Matt Hancock spoke of the "mammoth logistical operation" of transporting the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from its point of manufacture to the arm of the patient. That's because it cannot be removed from a temperature of -70C (-94F) more than four times. And that temperature is much lower than what the average home freezer can reach.

Meet Kathrin Jansen who leads Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine team

Meet Kathrin Jansen who leads Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine team: Much of the work that Pfizer is celebrating this week is thanks to the leadership of Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer. Jansen has spearheaded the effort to get a COVID-19 vaccine market-ready. She’s been with Pfizer since 2009, when the company acquired Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where she had been working on vaccines. Over the course of her multi-decade career, Jansen has proven to be something of a maverick.

What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 11 November

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 11 November: Top stories: US states tighten restrictions; more mink deaths from COVID; stocks and oil gain on vaccine news.

Why Aren't COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps Working?

Why Aren't COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps Working? While researchers have worked for months to develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, contact-tracing apps like COVID Trace have been touted as one of the technology world’s most promising contributions to the fight against the pandemic. But seven months into the U.S. outbreak, such apps have made slow progress across the country, hampered by sluggish and uncoordinated development, distrust of technology companies, and inadequate advertising budgets and messaging campaigns.

Most States Aren’t Ready to Distribute the Leading COVID-19 Vaccine

Most States Aren’t Ready to Distribute the Leading COVID-19 Vaccine: The Pfizer vaccine is unusually difficult to ship and store: It is administered in two doses given 28 days apart, has to be stored at temperatures of about minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit and will be delivered in dry ice-packed boxes holding 1,000 to 5,000 doses. These cartons can stay cold enough to keep the doses viable for up to 10 days, according to details provided by the company. The ice can be replenished up to three times. Once opened, the packages can keep the vaccine for five days but can’t be opened more than twice a day. The vaccine can also survive in a refrigerator for five days but can’t be refrozen if unused.

A Q&A on coronavirus vaccines

A Q&A on coronavirus vaccines: Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Google Health’s chief health officer, has been a trusted source for learning about its impact and implications. She's advised Google teams on everything from how to respond to the pandemic in our own workplaces, to how we can build products and features that help everyone navigate COVID-19, such as the COVID-19 layer in Maps. Recently, we shared an update on how we’re doing just that, as well as helping businesses around the world get back up and running.

With lots of discussion worldwide about COVID-19 vaccines, today we published for our employees an interview with Dr. Karen about this topic. We’re sharing a version of that interview more broadly in case it’s helpful or informative for others to read.

As the former director of the United States’ national vaccine program, Dr. Karen is intimately familiar with the subject of vaccines. In this interview, she tells us more about what happens in a vaccine trial, when we can expect to have access to one and what it takes to vaccinate the entire world’s population in record time—a feat the human race has never before undertaken.

Will Low-Income Countries Be Left Behind When COVID-19 Vaccines Arrive?

Will Low-Income Countries Be Left Behind When COVID-19 Vaccines Arrive?: rich countries are snapping up vaccines even before they're ready, and it could mean fewer — as well as delays in vaccination — for billions in less wealthy nations