At the pharmaceutical facility, dry ice is dosed directly into specially designed thermal shipping boxes or “soft-boxes” containing from 195 vials to 975 vials (each vial contains five doses of the vaccine). Each soft box contains 23 kg (50.7 lb) of dry ice.
In transit to the vaccination centers, dry ice maintains the temperature of the vaccine for up to ten days. Once the vaccination center receives the vaccines, they have three options for storage: