From temperature to transportation, getting COVID-19 vaccines to Minnesotans is a complicated path
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It will be a complicated path to get the first COVID-19 vaccines from the manufacturer into the arms of Minnesota patients. That path includes eveything from dry ice to synchronized transportation.
Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Tim Walz said the first vaccines could arrive in the state as early as next week. Minnesota’s distribution model will start with 25 vaccine hubs and 118 spokes.
The Pfizer vaccine, which is the first that will be available, needs to be stored at -94 degrees. There is already ultra-cold storage in place at many of Minnesota’s hubs.
This May 4, 2020, file photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, shows the first patient enrolled in Pfizer's COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.[Courtesy of University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP]
But the product must be kept cold all throughout the supply chain, which requires complex planning. The governor said there is such little room for error that they have been conducting practice runs to prepare for the day the vaccine actually arrives.
"We have tested it from when it leaves the manufacturing facility until it was on the FedEx truck, then delivered to us at the hospital," he said.
Walz said the package they tracked contained a monitor to show the temperature.
"We have been thinking of all the implications of what happens. Will there be enough FedEx trucks? What happens if there is a blizzard?" he said.
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