New COVID cases are continuing to wreak havoc in world supply chains. The spread of the COVID Omicron variant has created bottlenecks throughout the world and in particular at many of the world's busiest ports in China. Operations at the world's busiest port of Shanghai are struggling to cope with shipments that have been re-routed from other large Chinese ports such as Shenzhen in the south and Tianjin in the north.
Undoubtedly, COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the supply chain. COVID had led to ongoing shortages of products, widespread price increases, and continued supply chain unpredictability. Indeed, when the world economy reopened after largely shutting down at the onset of COVID, supply chains couldn’t keep up with the sudden huge surge in product demand. New COVID variants and various health protocols have also weighed heavily on logistic networks.
The recent blockage of the Suez Canal by the Ever Given container ship has shown just how fragile global shipping can be. But, this Suez incident was just one episode in the overall shipping crisis triggered over a year ago by the Coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to shipping now is the shortage of transport boxes (shipping containers). Even when these containers are available, their prices have increased to sky-high levels—from about $1000/each prior to 2020 to up to $10,000 now, according to the DW article: “Coronavirus Pandemic Triggers Shipping Container Crisis.”
It’s been over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic entered our lives and dramatically changed them for the foreseeable future. For many who have continued to work and meet in their usual workplace, day-to-day practices that were once unimaginable have now become generally accepted and are viewed much in the same way as brushing your teeth. Other practices are accepted as necessary but are also thoroughly disliked.
Which COVID vaccine will you get? The big debate taking place these days, around every watercooler and kitchen table, is whether or not to obtain the COVID vaccine. The other point of discussion, of course, is which vaccine individuals will receive.
Monitoring vaccine temperature can be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Separating the task into different components and answering two key questions makes it much easier. First, which vaccine do you need to monitor—Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson? Second, are you looking for a temperature monitoring product to use during the vaccine transport or during storage? Of the three COVID-19 vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), the Pfizer vaccine requires the most extreme temperature conditions.
In the world of monitoring coronavirus vaccines during storage and handling, there are three general temperature profiles. These profiles include refrigerated 2°C to 8°C (36°F to 46°F), frozen -25°C to -15°C (-13°F to 5°F), and ultra-low temperature -80°C to -60°C (-112°F to -76°F). A data logger is used to provide complete monitoring and a record of temperatures of which vaccines have been exposed. The logger enables you to ensure that your vaccines’ potency is preserved and that they have not experienced any temperature excursions.
When people think of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, one of the first thoughts or questions usually concerns the extremely low temperature requirements to maintain the vaccine’s potency. But, how can you really know if you’re doing a good job in preserving the vaccines’ potency? Per the CDC temperature requirements, Pfizer vaccines will be shipped and arrive at a storage facility between -80°C and -60°C (-112°F to -76°F) in a thermal shipping container with dry ice.
Healthcare providers around the world have begun offering the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to the communities they serve. Some DeltaTrak customers actually started preparing a year ago to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. One of those customers is Walmart. According to Lisa Smith, Senior Director of Health & Wellness for Walmart, when their clinical team realized how quickly the COVID-19 virus was heading to the United States, they sprang into action,
On January 21, 2021, President Biden issued an “Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety.” In response to this executive order, on January 29th, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a guidance “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace.” While this guidance has not yet become a requirement, OSHA is investigating an emergency standard that correlates with this new guidance.