Healthcare workers across the country are feeling a mixture of hope and excitement for this week’s arrival of the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly three million doses are being shipped to big-city hospitals, state health agencies and remote rural clinics for the first round of injections.
This mass distribution is one of the most ambitious immunization campaigns in American history. News stations are showing footage of dry ice-filled boxes and refrigerated containers being loaded onto trucks and cargo planes, and hospitals that have eagerly prepared new freezers for storage. This urgent distribution would not be possible without oil and natural gas and their byproducts that we all rely on in our daily lives.
The most obvious example of how oil and natural gas are needed in this process, is the fuel used to ship the vaccines across the country. Additionally, natural gas remains the primary power source for our country’s electric grid which is relied upon by hospitals, nursing homes and clinics.
But what critics of the oil and gas industry hesitate to discuss is the rest of the supply chain needed to safely and quickly distribute this vaccine to those who need it most.
- Dry Ice – Vaccines are being insulated for shipping with dry ice; a product made purely of carbon dioxide. This raw material is the byproduct of the refinement of gases emitted during the manufacturing or refinement of other products—mainly petroleum and ammonia. The carbon dioxide emitted during these processes is suctioned, contained and cleaned in order to make dry ice. [Learn more]
- Refrigeration – hospital freezers, like our home refrigerators and air conditioners, circulate refrigerant to create a cooling effect. Refrigerants are typically a mixture of chemical elements that are captured during the refinement of petroleum or can be a direct byproduct such as butane.
- But perhaps most importantly, and the least thought of, are the three million individual plastic syringes that safely hold the vaccine, which would not be possible without oil and gas. What’s more is that each dose will be administered by a healthcare worker wearing a plastic face shield, eye protection, and synthetic masks and gowns. This personal protective equipment (PPE), along with the hundreds of other single-use plastic medical items that are critical components of our antiseptic model of modern medicine, are all made from oil and natural gas.
We often take for granted the thousands of items we use daily that are made from oil and natural gas. In many cases, especially healthcare, these items fulfill specific purposes and cannot be easily or affordably manufactured by other raw materials. And while people’s opinions about the oil industry may vary, it’s during critical times like these that Americans should realize the importance of our industry and the contributions of the workers who make sure it is safely produced, transported and refined to eventually become important products that make our modern lifestyle possible.
