Guelph-based Danby Appliances has begun taking orders for its new hyper-cold medical freezer line that can store soon-to-be released COVID-19 vaccines, says company president and CEO Jim Estill.
The new hyper-cold freezers can reach temperatures of minus 80C, which is required for longer-term storage of some RNA vaccines, like the one created by Pfizer that is awaiting Health Canada approval.
On Monday Pfizer said about 250,000 doses of the vaccine will be available in Canada by the end of December.
That first batch will be available months before the first new freezer comes off the production line.
“We are collecting orders on the minus 80 and then once we get to an appropriate number we will turn on production, but it takes about five months for them to come,” said Estill by phone on Monday.
That five month lead time doesn’t concern Estill because even though 250,000 doses of vaccine are on their way to Canada this month, there will still be a need for vaccine storage in the future.
“The vaccine that will be coming soon will be consumed soon,” said Estill. “When the vaccine is going to be stored for any length of time — that’s when it’s going to be really critical.”
The company plans to produce four models of hyper-cold freezers, each able to reach temperatures of minus 80C.
Estill said the freezers are required for longer-term storage of RNA vaccines like the upcoming COVID-19 vaccines, but the minus 20C freezers that the company already has in stock will also be helpful in the short term.
“We are finding there will be greater demand for minus 20 freezers, which is a product we actually have in inventory and have been selling for quite some time,” said Estill. “They are quite a bit easier to produce, they are just way easier.”
Another benefit of the minus 20 freezers is the cost.
“Minus 80 freezers at $10,000. A minus 20 freezer is less than a thousand, depending on the size,” said Estill.
Both the minus 20 and minus 80 freezers made by Danby also include monitoring to ensure the temperature doesn’t fluctuate too much.
“So you can know that the power wasn’t out for an hour or the temperature didn’t go up because there was a compressor problem or whatever,” said Estill.
Freezers that are used to store vaccines cannot be frost-free models, said Estill, because those units warm up to remove the frost and cool back down again over and over again.
“For meat it doesn’t hurt that at all because it doesn’t heat up long enough to thaw your product,” said Estill.
The minus 80 freezers will be viable for some time, said Estill, as more RNA vaccines are created and require the hyper-cold temperatures.
“Not all of them are RNA vaccines, but that is the new kind of vaccine and they need to be super cool. We are being told there will be a demand for these for the coming decade because it’s the new vaccines. It could even be your flu shot in two years,” said Estill.
Dry ice can be used for short-term storage of vaccines because it allows items to be stored at minus 78.5C.
“You can pack it for a couple of days in dry ice with no problem,” said Estill.
Dry ice has its own challenges, said Estill, including a need for venting.
“It expands, so you can’t put it in a perfectly sealed unit or it would explode, essentially. In a weird way you need a leaky container but the problem with them is the insulation is not as good,” said Estill.
He said there are still a number of questions about the eventual distribution of the vaccines.
“Nobody is really clear on much of anything,” said Estill. “Are they going to ship a million doses to Toronto? Then you can run it on dry ice out to Guelph and Kitchener or does every single clinic in Guelph and Kitchener and every single hospital and every single pharmacy need one of these freezers?”
The minus 80 freezers may also be useful in the future, said Estill, if Canada decides to someday create a national stockpile of vaccines.
Asked if the hyper-cold freezers have any other uses, Estill said, “I know United Breeders locally uses them to ship bull semen, so that’s one use.”
Aside from the freezers, Danby has also reached about 60 per cent to its goal of assembling 10,000 ventilators to be used in the fight against COVID-19 and it recently donated 500 air purifiers with UV lights to the Toronto District School Board.
Estill said he is personally tired of the pandemic and the lockdown.
“I think it’s awesome that we have something coming because this is not good for anybody,” said Estill. “I am looking forward to vaccinations being widely available to get back to more business as usual, a more normal life.”
