Vaccine Pods recently announced that it has launched from stealth, a new technology that aids in the transportation, storage and distribution of sensitive vaccines. Vaccine Pods provides pharmaceutical companies, government organizations and non-governmental organizations the ability to streamline cold chain logistics by directly shipping a container with the vaccine safely stored in an ultra-low temperature freezer that is powered by the container’s integrated power source. 

“With recent COVID vaccine approvals, the life sciences industry, in conjunction with government agencies and supply chain partners, is aiming to deliver 300 million doses in the U.S. alone in early 2021. Depending on the manufacturer, these vaccines must be kept at temperatures between minus 20 and minus 86 degrees Celsius at all times. This has created a new and significant challenge that existing ULT cold chain storage technology is not currently equipped to support,” said Edward Collins, CEO and Founder of Vaccine Pods. “To help solve this public health crisis, we have engineered a cost-effective, energy-efficient technology that increases ULT cold chain storage capacity and power while working completely off the grid, enabling organizations to safely distribute more vaccines at reduced expenses. Because of its cost savings and continual energy supply, this technology will not only help densely populated localities, but also rural areas and developing countries that traditionally have not enjoyed the same access to these resources.”

Developed in partnership with HCI Energy, Vaccine Pods created a solution that leverages sustainable energy to minimize reliance on the electrical grid or fossil fuels. As a result, this power solution enables uninterrupted cold chain management and delivery of vaccines and biologics anywhere in the world. This technology has been designed for use with Stirling Ultracold’s SU780XLE vaccine freezers.

“The industry is facing an unprecedented situation. COVID vaccines must be kept at extremely low temperatures, whether they’re in transit or being stored in a local healthcare facility. Supply chains face major operational hurdles to support the proper distribution of these vaccines at such massive scale,” said Dusty Tenney, CEO of Stirling Ultracold. “Vaccine Pods’ charging station technology is a gamechanger. It allows companies like Stirling Ultracold to ramp up capacity and accommodate growing energy requirements of our ULT freezers, guaranteeing that we can maintain vaccines at constant ultra-low temperatures until point of use. This is a major step forward that will help supply chains meet the urgent need for COVID vaccines.”

Vaccine Pods’ power solution provides comprehensive visibility of storage freezers across the supply chain, including:

• Temperatures of freezers located anywhere in the world
• 24-hour monitoring of location(s)
• Security and remote access permissions
• Solar array and deployment status with real-time weather tracking to deploy or retract the solar panels in the case of inclement weather
• Power system performance and status
• Fuel levels

About Vaccine Pods

Vaccine Pods was established in North Kansas City, Mo., as a solution to solve the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain deficiencies in cold chain management.  Recognizing the limitations of distributing the vaccine to rural areas of the U.S., as well as developing nations worldwide, would leave millions without access to the life-saving vaccines they need.  Founder and CEO Edward Collins, a retired Battalion Chief with the Kansas City, Mo., Fire Department, dug deep into his rolodex and with the assistance of friends and family, HCI Energy and Stirling Ultracold, put together a team to solve this problem.  The end result being an off-grid power solution that can deliver vaccines at uninterrupted ultra-low temperatures while using green, sustainable energy sources.

About Stirling Ultracold

Stirling Ultracold, a division of Global Cooling, Inc., manufactures and sells environmentally sustainable ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers for the global market from its headquarters in Athens, Ohio. Powered by the free-piston Stirling engine, and the first in the U.S. to use 100 percent natural refrigerants, these upright and undercounter ULT freezers use less than one-third the electric power of standard compressor-based ULT freezers, as validated by the industry’s first ENERGY STAR^® partnership for ULT freezers. The company also produces the industry’s only portable ULT solution available for vaccine storage and distribution, remote clinical trials and biologic drug delivery.