Not normal business: CT company creates transport system for upcoming COVID-19 vaccine

Gilman Brothers says the system can keep vaccine doses at negative 75 for up to 72 hours, and they have fabricators all over the country ready to start making them. They say they can produce about 4,000 a week.

News 12 Staff

Nov 20, 2020, 1:22 AM

Updated 1,493 days ago

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As vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna get closer to hitting the market, state officials have been working on a plan to keep them cold.
The vaccines will need to be kept very cold for several days.
Connecticut's Gilman Brothers Company normally specializes in foam core for corporate signage, but at the start of the pandemic, the company pivoted quickly to make hospital beds and other supplies.
The company's vaccine transport system is basically a fancy cooler.
"What you have is a series of channels that will allow the dry ice to fill and encapsulate all around the payout system," said Evan Gilman, president of Gilman Brothers Company.
Gilman Brothers says the system can keep vaccine doses at negative 75 for up to 72 hours, and they have fabricators all over the country ready to start making them. They say they can produce about 4,000 a week.
With Gilman Brothers choosing not to pursue a patent, companies all over the world could put the design to use as well.
"This is life and death. This isn't profit, this isn't that sort of - this isn't normal business," said Gilman.
Gilman Brothers says it worked closely with the Army Corps of Engineers on the specifications for the transport system.