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Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are known to cause diseases. Patients show different symptoms from the common cold to severe lung infections, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The new coronavirus (nCoV) is a new type of coronavirus that has not been found in humans, such as the new type of coronavirus 2019-nCov in Wuhan, China. As the COVID-19 has developed so far, COVID 19 vaccine is about to be on the market.
On January 12, 2020, the World Health Organization officially named COVID-19 2019-nCoV. The COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus that has never been found in humans before.
Since December 2019, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, has continued to carry out influenza and related disease surveillance, and multiple cases of viral pneumonia have been found, all diagnosed as viral pneumonia/pulmonary infection.
Common signs of people infected with coronavirus include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath, and difficulty breathing. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death. There is no specific treatment for the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
But many symptoms can be managed, so treatment should be based on the patient's clinical condition. In addition, supplementary care for infected people can be very effective. Self-protection includes: maintaining basic hand and respiratory tract hygiene, adhering to safe eating habits, and avoiding close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory diseases (such as coughing and sneezing).
The latest research results reveal the transmission characteristics of the new coronavirus: high infectivity and high concealment. A new study in Australia shows that the COVID-19 can survive on banknotes, glass and other surfaces for nearly a month.
People infected with the virus will have assorted symptoms. Some just have a fever or a mild cough, some will develop pneumonia, and some will have more serious symptoms or even die.
The fatality rate of the virus is about 2% to 4%, but this is a very early percentage and may change as more information becomes available. At the same time, this does not mean that it is not serious. It just means that not everyone who is infected with the virus will face the most serious consequences. The main transmission routes of the COVID-19 are respiratory droplets and contact transmission. The transmission routes of aerosols and feces-oral still need to be further clarified. According to epidemiological investigations, most cases can be traced to close contact with confirmed cases.
On August 27, 2020, WHO Director-General Tan Desai said that the epidemic affects the mental health of millions of people worldwide. Globally, mental health is already a neglected health problem. Nearly 1 billion people worldwide are affected by mental health problems of varying degrees, and superlative drinking causes 3 million deaths each year. But only a few people can have high-quality consultation and treatment. In low- and middle-income countries, more than 75% of people suffering from mental illness, neurological and drug abuse problems cannot receive any treatment. The WHO has called for a massive increase in investment in mental health.
Suspected and confirmed cases should be treated in designated hospitals with isolation and protection conditions, and severe cases should be admitted to the ICU for treatment as soon as possible.
General treatment, including bed rest, supportive treatment, adequate calories, improving related examinations, and regularly reviewing chest imaging examinations. According to the patient’s blood oxygen saturation, timely effective oxygen therapy, including nasal catheter oxygenation, high-flow oxygen therapy, non-invasive or invasive ventilator support should be given; appropriate addition of antibacterial drugs should be given according to the condition.
The principle of treatment for severe and critical patients is to actively prevent complications, treat underlying diseases, prevent secondary infections, and provide organ function support on the basis of symptomatic and supportive treatment. The fundamental solution, however, that may solve the COVID-19 lies in the development of vaccines.
Vaccines refer to biological products made with various pathogenic microorganisms for vaccination. Vaccines made with bacteria or spirochetes are also called bacterins. Vaccines are divided into live vaccines and dead vaccines. Commonly used live vaccines include BCG, polio vaccine, measles vaccine, and plague vaccine. Commonly used dead vaccines are pertussis vaccine, typhoid vaccine, meningococcal vaccine, cholera vaccine and so on.
The production time of different vaccines is different, and some vaccines may take 22 months to produce a batch. The development of a vaccine is a long and complicated process, and the cost is high. Vaccination is the most economical and effective public health intervention to prevent and control infectious diseases. It is also an effective means for families to reduce the occurrence of member diseases and reduce medical expenses.
It is estimated that immunization can prevent 2 to 3 million deaths caused by diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and measles each year. Global vaccination coverage (the proportion of children worldwide who receive recommended vaccines) has remained stable over the past few years.
Vaccines are autoimmune preparations made of pathogenic microorganisms (such as bacteria, rickettsiae, viruses, etc.) and their metabolites through artificial attenuation, inactivation, or genetic modification to prevent infectious diseases. The vaccine retains the characteristics of pathogenic bacteria that can stimulate the animal's immune system. When animals come into contact with this innocuous pathogen, the immune system will produce certain protective substances, such as immune hormones, active physiological substances, special antibodies, etc.; when the animal comes into contact with this pathogen again, the animal’s immunity system will follow its original memory and create more protective substances to prevent pathogenic bacteria from harmfulness.
The COVID 19 vaccine is a vaccine against the new coronavirus.
On January 24, 2020, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention successfully isolated China’s first strain of new coronavirus. At 20:18 on March 16, the recombinant COVID-19 vaccine was approved to start clinical trials. On April 13, China’s COVID-19 vaccine entered phase II clinical trials; on the same day, an expert group composed of more than 120 scientists, doctors, funders and manufacturers around the world issued a public declaration, promising to work together under the coordination of the World Health Organization to speed up the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
On June 19, China’s first COVID-19 vaccine was approved to start clinical trials. As of July 20, there are currently about 250 candidate COVID-19 vaccines in development worldwide. On August 16, the COVID-19 vaccine from the team of Academician Chen Wei obtained a patent, which is the first in China. The patent application for this invention enjoys a priority review policy; on August 20, the clinical trial of China’s bio-COVID-19 vaccine under the Sinopharm Group was launched in Peru (Ⅲ Period); On October 8, China signed an agreement with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization to formally join the “New Coronary Pneumonia Vaccine Implementation Plan.”
As of October 20, 2020, China has vaccinated a total of about 60,000 subjects, and no serious adverse reactions have been reported.
Once the COVID-19 vaccine is successfully developed and applied on a large scale, the storage of the vaccine will be an important issue. In order to be able to safely store the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, states, cities and hospitals in the United States have begun rushing to buy ultra-low freezer. Some professional refrigerator manufacturers have warned that the supply of freezers in the United States is beginning to fall short of demand, and it will take several months to wait.
According to the cold chain management regulations of the immunization program, long-term storage of vaccines should be stored below minus 20 degrees Celsius; for short-term storage, they should be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius.
Vaccine cold chain refers to the storage, transportation and refrigeration facilities and science equipment equipped to ensure the quality of vaccines during the operation from the vaccine manufacturer to the inoculation unit. Because vaccines are sensitive to temperature, every link from the department where the vaccine is manufactured to the site where the vaccine is used may fail due to high temperature.
At this time, medical freezers will be in short supply. The medical freezer is a professional cold storage that mainly stores and preserves drugs, vaccines, enzymes, hormones, stem cells, platelets, semen, transplanted skin and animal tissue samples, extracted RNA and gene libraries, and some important biological and chemical reagents.
Medical freezer is widely used in many industries and fields such as scientific research institutions, medical and health care, biopharmaceuticals, pharmacies, etc., and is an essential medical equipment. Medical freezers have strict temperature control devices, and their performance and uses are quite different from household freezers.
The medical freezer is used to store blood bags, medicines, reagents, etc., and can be used with other instruments to maintain low temperature in experiments such as protein extraction and shaking culture. As a regular refrigerator in the laboratory, it can store enzymes, blood products, nucleic acids, etc.
Ultra-low freezers are mainly used to store medicines, vaccines, enzymes, hormones, stem cells, semen, transplanted skin, and specimens drawn from the human body, gene clone libraries, and some important biological and chemical reagents. In the future, the main concern is the reliability of low-temperature freezers and the storage conditions. Nanomaterials will become a promising material in low-temperature freezers in the future. The monitoring system will also become an important part.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer must be stored at a very low temperature of at least minus 70 degrees Celsius for 6 months. If it is stored in a refrigerator at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, it can only be stored for 5 days. This also means that most of the existing cold chain systems are difficult to meet the transportation needs of the vaccine.
The low temperature environment of minus 70 degrees Celsius can only be guaranteed by ultra-low freezers.
The ultra-low freezer adopts a dual-machine cascade form with two compressors. Its insulation material is polyurethane material, and the original Italian imported microcomputer precision controller is built in. The temperature can be freely controlled between -10 degrees and -80 degrees, and it has precise temperature control. In addition, it has a humanized design and is a drawer-type structure, which can be opened when fetching, which is convenient for storage of items.
The fields needing ultra-low temperature are not as many as those needing low temperature, but the fields needing ultra-low temperature are generally used for low-temperature experiments such as scientific research institutes or laboratories. The -80c freezers can store biological products, chemical reagents, plasma, vaccines, Strains and biological samples, etc.
The COVID 19 vaccine will be available in the future, and millions of people will be vaccinated against the COVID-19. The vaccine developed by Pfizer in the United States needs to be stored in an ultra-low temperature environment, which puts forward demanding requirements for the cold chain management of vaccine transportation. Ultra-low freezers will be needed.
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