Once the FDA Green Lights a Vaccine, This Is the Next Big Hurdle for Investors
The role of logistics in global crises often goes unnoticed. In the attempt to increase vaccination rates throughout the world, supply chains often have more influence on which vaccines make a difference than the drug itself. Because of this, vaccine development is usually done with supply chain constraints in mind -- but the coronavirus pandemic has thrown some of these rules aside.
So far, the vaccines that have demonstrated efficacy require some kind of carefully constructed cold chain. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech's (NASDAQ: BNTX) vaccine requires cold storage at negative 70 degrees Celsius. Moderna's (NASDAQ: MRNA) vaccine remains stable for 30 days at the more reasonable temperatures between 2 degrees and 8 degrees Celsius, or six months at colder temperatures. AstraZeneca's (NASDAQ: AZN) candidate, on the other hand, can be stored at regular refrigerator temperatures.
Earlier in the pandemic, logistics companies needed to move personal protective equipment (PPE) all over the globe when demand quickly exceeded supply. Masks, gloves, and gowns don't require any special temperature treatment, but the distribution was still not smooth. In the U.S., few supplies in the national stockpile and a lack of federal coordination led to a frenzy of states bidding against other states, hospitals fending for themselves, and in some cases, individual companies inking deals with foreign governments to obtain their own supply of PPE. As vaccine candidates creep tantalizingly closer to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, logistics companies are determined to be prepared for the challenge this time around.
Source Fool.com
