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Vaccines need to be kept at very specific temperatures – otherwise they lose their potency and effectiveness. To get a vaccine from the manufacturer to a patient requires a continuous temperature-controlled string of transportation and storage called the cold supply chain.
Experts estimate the world is going to need between 12 billion and 15 billion doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and many of the leading candidates are RNA-based vaccines that need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures. The current cold supply chain is not prepared to deliver these types of vaccines at these numbers, says University of Massachusetts researcher Anna Nagurney. She explains what it will take to safely distribute the coronavirus vaccine once one is developed.
Also today:
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Daniel Merino
Assistant Editor: Science, Health, Environment
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Trucks, planes and storage facilities all need to be able to keep a vaccine cold.
J2R/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Anna Nagurney, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The cold supply chain keeps vaccines fresh during distribution, but the current system is nowhere near large enough to distribute the billions of COVID-19 vaccines that the world needs.
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Video
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Nicole Hassoun, Binghamton University, State University of New York
A bioethicist explains a recent report that recommends how to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine equitably.
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Science + Technology
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Paul K. Byrne, North Carolina State University
News that Venus may harbor life has swept the globe. So how do we find out for sure? A planetary scientist explains what's next.
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Charles M Schweik, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Governments must embrace policies that promote sharing and collective invention to create and distribute a vaccine quickly.
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Environment + Energy
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D. André Green II, University of Michigan
Can a plan that brings together government and private landowners create enough habitat for monarch butterflies?
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Health
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Grayson Jaggers, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Many of us don't get an adequate amount of nutrients.
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Politics/Election '20
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Bethany Albertson, University of Texas at Austin
Dog whistles constitute coded language that only some voters can hear. But Trump does not hide his bigotry when talking about Mexican 'rapists,' the 'China virus' and 'law and order.'
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Luke Perry, Utica College
It's not just whether the US Postal Service can handle the load. In 2020 primaries, states have had trouble distributing, collecting and counting mailed-in ballots.
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Ben Rich, Curtin University
'Beta testing' of bold ideas is rare in foreign affairs, but the UAE and Bahrain have provided just such a test case for the Saudis in their own push to normalise relations with Israel.
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Economy + Business
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Richard S. Warr, North Carolina State University
Inflation has been low, but if the Fed isn't careful, keeping rates too low, too long could lead to runaway inflation.
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Ethics + Religion
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David Mislin, Temple University
President Trump is using religious rhetoric against his Democratic opponents. A historian of religion cites similar attacks over a century ago.
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From our international editions
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David Gehring, University of Nottingham
Until the 1600s, Spain, France and Portugal were much bigger players in the settlement of the New World.
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Stephanie B. Borrelle, University of Toronto
As much as 53 million tonnes of plastic waste could spill into the world's rivers, lakes and oceans by 2030 — even if countries meet their commitments.
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Nicole Curato, University of Canberra; Simon Niemeyer, University of Canberra
Our approach to controversial technologies shouldn't be guided by scientists alone, nor by peddlers of misinformation on social media. A citizens' assembly could walk the line between the two.
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