Background

Vaccines are temperature sensitive biologics and the vast majority of vaccines must be stored between 2-8°C from the point of manufacture to the point of use (the “cold chain”). The introduction of new vaccines such as COVID-19 vaccines combined with a push to expand immunization programs is putting an unprecedented strain on existing cold chain delivery systems that have not changed in decades.

In recent years, researchers have worked to create thermally stable vaccines. One approach has been to engineer vaccines that can maintain their thermal stability without preservative adjuvants. While promising, these engineered vaccines are labor intensive, still have relatively short shelf lives (a few days) when stored at elevated temperature, and each newly developed vaccine must individually