It's absolutely not "the major issue of the moment". All of the biggest hot spots and first stage distribution plans start in metropolitan areas. All the cities have access to cold storage, and have the transportation available to move the vaccine as needed.
It's a major issue to consider in any serious long term distribution plan. A large number of rural areas don't have access to the type of freezers needed. And at longer distances, transporting the vaccine at proper temperature also becomes an issue. Here's few articles I found that mention the problem in a quick google:
'We're being left behind': Rural hospitals can't afford ultra-cold freezers to store the leading Covid-19 vaccine
Large urban hospitals are rushing to buy expensive ultra-cold freezers to store what's likely to be the first approved Covid-19 vaccine. But most rural hospitals can't afford these high-end units.
www.statnews.com
As vaccine rollout looms, so do big questions around supply chains
Experts call the logistics of getting doses into the hands of distributors a "phenomenally critical" challenge – and not one that's easily solved.
www.healthcareitnews.com
Covid-19 Vaccines Are Slow to Reach Rural America
Communities far from cities, many with the highest coronavirus infection rates in the U.S., face challenges including storage, staffing and vaccine skepticism.
www.wsj.com
Freezer access is exactly the type of long term planning that the federal government should have been handling months ago. Before the FDA ever approved the vaccine, this was a known problem. The fact that freezer discussion isn't an immediate part of the distribution plan just highlights how short sighted and fundamentally useless our current planning is.
