1st Mass Air Shipment of Coronavirus Vaccine Begun

The first air shipment of Coronavirus vaccine, produced by the American company "Pfizer" in cooperation with the German "BioNTech", has begun, according to "Sky News Arabia" website.

The first batches of vaccines were transported from Brussels, Belgium, to the city of Chicago, US, on a charter flight belonging to United Airlines.

The amount of vaccines that arrived in Chicago has not yet been disclosed, but press reports spoke of a "mass shipment".

[caption id="attachment_180026" align="alignleft" width="300"] Shipment[/caption]

Pfizer has developed a special transport box the size of a suitcase, packed with 9 kilograms of dry ice, to keep the vaccine at an appropriate temperature.

However, the amount of dry ice that any aircraft can carry has specific safety standards set by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), because this substance can convert to carbon dioxide (CO2), which may lead to suffocation in poorly ventilated places.

It is worth mentioning that, Pfizer and BioNTech have submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization of their vaccine, and it is expected to be issued within 10 days.

"Pfizer" has two factories that produce COVID-19 vaccine; one in the US state of Michigan and the other in Belgium. The company also has a distribution site in Wisconsin, where the vaccine will be stored.

A few weeks ago, "Pfizer" and "BioNTech" announced that clinical trials revealed the great success of their vaccine, a matter which gave hope that the world could recover from the health and economic crisis that it has been going through for about a year ago.

However, the most important drawback to this vaccine is that it needs very low temperatures, reaching minus 80 degrees, to keep it safe.