Hot Dog Truck Delivers The First COVID-19 Vaccines In Bulgaria
Hot dogs will always be there for you. Need a quick lunch? Microwave a hot dog. On the run? Find a hot dog stand. Need a coronavirus vaccine? If you're in Bulgaria, find a hot dog truck.
Over the weekend, Bulgaria received its first 9,750 doses of the vaccine, according to The New York Times. But before the rollout began, the authorities had to deliver the doses somehow, and they did it via hot dog truck. Escorted by police, of course. As you might have heard by now, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has to be stored at a searing -70 degrees Celsius to stay effective, and it can be kept between 2-8 degrees Celsius for only five days before being administered.
People immediately ran with the jokes and started memes bearing the Pfizer logo, like this one involving hot dogs bearing the stamp.
I'm already down to take the vaccine, and if it was administered via hot dog, that makes me doubly ready to take it. Eat a hot dog, save a life!
Bulgaria has been hit particularly hard with the coronavirus, unfortunately, with more than 25 people per 100,000 dying of the virus over 14 days, and it has one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the E.U. While some people just think the whole hot dog thing is funny, others are worried that the country isn't prepared well enough to store the first wave of the vaccines.
Only in Bulgaria, we'll deliver 'rona vaccine with a hot dog truck 😶 pic.twitter.com/GqQVMzTsvc
— ✨ Kaloyan ✨ (@KokosTech) December 26, 2020
"It doesn't matter if the trucks have images of hot dogs or Black Angus beef plastered on them," said Mariya Sharkova, a health care law specialist. "What matters is for the government to strictly follow the distribution and storage regulations."
Her concern is that the food truck delivery of vaccines might make the country liable, since the the vaccine manufacturer can't be held responsible for the way the doses are transported in hot dog trucks.
The Bulgarian health minister, Kostadin Angelov, didn't find any of this funny either, calling all the jokes "inappropriate." He vowed that the next deliveries of the vaccine would be on transport provided by the vaccine manufacturer instead. Hot diggity dog.