Covid-19 vaccines awaiting regulatory approval will require ultracold temperatures for shipping and storage, and makers of dry ice are bracing for a surge in demand.
Frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, is one piece of a sprawling supply chain being assembled by businesses from airlines to grocers to deliver the shots. Across the country, dry-ice makers are planning to boost production of the ultracold storage material needed to ship hundreds of millions of Covid-19 vaccines to hospitals, pharmacies and physicians’ offices.
Brad Dunn, vice president of Cee Kay Supply Inc., which makes dry ice at three Missouri plants, said he has fielded calls from public-health departments, medical supply and logistics companies planning to take part in what Pfizer Inc. has called its biggest-ever vaccination campaign.
Pfizer is expected to have the first Covid-19 vaccine cleared by U.S. regulators, kicking off a mass vaccination drive that will eventually include other shots.
Pfizer projects it will distribute 25 million doses in the U.S. this year and another 1.3 billion globally in 2021.
