The Ecological Footprint of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Germany.

Peter Kurzweil,Steffen Wahler,Alfred Müller

doi:10.3390/ijerph18147425

Abstract

Compared to the medical, economic and social implications of COVID-19 vaccinations, little attention has been paid to the ecological balance to date. This study is an attempt to estimate the environmental impact of two mRNA vaccines in terms of CO2 equivalents with respect to their different freezing strategies and supply chain organization. Although it is impossible to accurately calculate the actual environmental impact of the new biochemical synthesis technology, it becomes apparent that transport accounts for up to 99% of the total carbon footprint. The emissions for air freight, road transportation and last-mile delivery are nearly as 19 times the emissions generated from ultra-deep freeze technologies, the production of dry ice, glass and medical polymers for packaging. The carbon footprint of a single mRNA vaccine dose injected into a patient is about 0.01 to 0.2 kg CO2 equivalents, depending on the cooling technology and the logistic routes to the vaccination sites in Germany.

Highlights

Compared to the medical and economic challenges raised by the pandemic in high, middle and low-income countries [1], the environmental impact of vaccination programs appears to be a secondary concern
The carbon footprint of a single messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine dose injected into a patient is about 0.01 to 0.2 kg
According to BioNTech, 50,000 steps are required to produce the vaccine from the mRNA to the bulk drug substance [18], making it impossible to reliably estimate the carbon footprint

Summary

Introduction

Compared to the medical and economic challenges raised by the pandemic in high-, middle and low-income countries [1], the environmental impact of vaccination programs appears to be a secondary concern. The authors are aware that a comprehensive in-depth ecological analysis of the entire process chain from the raw materials to the end user is hardly feasible. This analysis focuses on estimating the carbon footprint [2,3] of packaging, distribution and cold chain storage [4,5,6,7] of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. RNA production is based on DNA plasmids as templates on which mRNA is built This new approach is much faster than normal vector vaccine production using infected animal cell cultures or chicken eggs, which take several weeks to incubate. Instead of applying a weakened copy of the coronavirus, mRNA strands instruct the body’s immune system cells to develop antibodies against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2

Methods

Results

Conclusion