It is the miracle jab that promises hope of an end to the pandemic and a longed-for return to normality.
Although it is still weeks until the first coronavirus vaccines are put into people’s arms, hundreds of thousands of doses have already rolled off the production line.
These pictures show the astonishing effort made to develop and mass-manufacture a completely new vaccine.
It all starts with the ‘bioreactor’ which generates the artificial genetic code at the heart of the innovative treatment, developed by German firm BioNTech.
When injected into the body in the vaccine, this code encourages people to safely make their own copies of the ‘spike protein’ on the outside of the virus so their immune system can recognise it and ward it off.
But the design is just the beginning, with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer then taking over to produce millions of individual doses – including the 10million promised to the UK by the end of this year.
This vaccine, which requires two doses and must initially be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, is not the simplest to roll out, compared to more traditional jabs or those that can be kept at room temperature in powder form.
Tons of dry ice will keep the doses at minus 75C and thermal sensors will track the temperature of this most precious cargo as it is sent across the world.
The vaccine can be kept at refrigerator temperature – but only for five days.
Such was the urgency of the pandemic that Pfizer, in common with other pharmaceutical firms, began making vaccines even before there was any evidence that they would work.
So hundreds of thousands of doses have already been created since the vaccine began production in the late summer.
The vials filled in Puurs, Belgium, will be rolled out in Europe, with the city of Kalamazoo in Michigan providing the supply for America.
Steve Bates, chief executive of the Bioindustry Association, said: ‘The process of manufacturing a vaccine is complex – with all the stages involved it would make a good documentary.
Click on lik to read more: .’https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8934655/How-UK-roll-coronavirus-vaccine-one-ready.html
Source: DailyMail UK
