“Remember as well that the efficacy levels we’re seeing this morning are after the second dose. If everyone magically got the vaccine this morning, we still wouldn’t all be able to breath easy for nearly a month. And we are not all getting it this morning, for sure. It’s obvious that the pandemic is ripping through a long list of countries right now – cases are rising steeply, hospitalizations right behind, and although we’re better at treating the patients than we were, deaths are inevitably going up as well. This is all going to get worse before it gets better – but the good news here is that it really is going to get better. Keeping your head down, wearing masks and keeping your distance is more valuable than ever, because there’s an actual finish line in sight that you have to reach. Hang on for the vaccine – for the vaccines – because they really are coming.”
But
“The Pfizer/BioNTech candidate, last we heard, needs -80C storage, and that is not available down at your local pharmacy. Pfizer has been rounding up as many ultracold freezers (and as much dry ice production) as they can, but there seems little doubt that this is going to be a tough one. I know that the press release talks about getting 1.3 billion doses of this vaccine during 2021, but actually getting 1.3 billion doses out there is going to take an extraordinary effort, because you’re getting into some regions where such relatively high-tech storage and handling becomes far more difficult.”
Medicynic 