The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved the storage of Pfizer’s COVID-19 standard freezer vaccine, which facilitates the storage requirements that could facilitate the delivery of the vaccine.
The Pfizer vaccine previously had to be stored in ultra-cold freezers at minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit. This was a challenge for the distribution of the vaccine in places such as rural areas or countries with lower incomes that do not have the storage capacity for ultra-cold.
The new step will make it possible to keep the vaccine at “conventional temperatures normally found in pharmaceutical freezers, for up to a period of two weeks.”
“This alternative temperature for transporting and storing the undiluted vials is significant and makes it possible to transport and store the vials under flexible conditions,” said Peter Marks, a top FDA vaccine official, in a statement. .
“The alternative temperature for transport and storage will help facilitate the cooling of equipment for low-cooling refrigeration equipment for vaccination sites, and it should help to get the vaccine to more places,” he added.
Pfizer applied to the FDA last week for the less stringent storage requirements, after conducting studies on safe storage temperatures.
In addition, there is no eager waiting for Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which could be approved by the FDA this weekend, not only because it will increase the US vaccine supply, but because it does not require ultra-cold storage.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also just one shot, while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have a two-dose treatment.