Vaccinating a nation: Can Biden manage America's biggest health project?

The smooth functioning of the supply chain is vital if the US is to ensure trust in a mass immunisation programme

Workers getting information from people waiting in line at a Covid-19 testing site in Washington last week. Distributing a vaccine will be a daunting task for every government around the world, says the writer, and in the United States, the task will be made harder not just by the country’s rugged and often sparsely populated terrain, but also by a hostile political climate. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

(FINANCIAL TIMES) Across the United States, vast "freezer farms" are popping up - warehouses containing row after row of ultra-cold storage equipment designed to house a vaccine against Covid-19 when one is approved.

These warehouses are the most visible sign of a new supply chain set up in just a few months as public officials and private companies prepare for the imminent arrival of one or more potentially world-changing drugs, at least one of which will have to be stored at temperatures colder than an Arctic winter.

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