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Vaccine rollout is an opportunity to create a new, sustainable cold chain that will be of use well beyond the current crisis

After 11 dark months, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is tantalizingly in sight. In recent weeks, two coronavirus vaccines – one from Pfizer-BioNTech and another from Moderna – were revealed to be more than 90 per cent effective in clinical trials.

But if they’re approved by regulators, getting the vaccines into the hands, or arms, of billions, will be a daunting task.

The Pfizer jab requires long-term storage at -70°C while Moderna’s must be kept at -20 °C long term. (Both can last for shorter periods in a regular refrigerator, where temperatures are between 2°C and 8°C.) The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored and transported long term at regular fridge temperatures.

In any of the above scenarios, rolling out COVID-19 vaccines on a global scale will require an enormous expansion in capacity of the global cold chain, the linked system of infrastructure that allows a product to move from its site of production to final destination while remaining appropriately chilled.

“The vaccination against COVID-19 is an inflection point that will determine how cold chains are handled on a global scale for the next two decades,” emphasizes Ligia Noronha, Director of the Economy Division at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

In many developing countries, the technologies are sparse, and experts believe the demands of a COVID-19 vaccine could finally lead to long neglected investments in their cold chains. They warn, though, against quick and dirty solutions.

“It can go in three directions,” says Toby Peters, a professor of cold economy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. “One is that we solve the problem, but we do it in a way which is financially and environmentally inefficient. Or, we do it in a way which is a little bit greener. Finally, we can solve it in a way which actually has a lasting legacy.”