The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday agreed to store Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine at standard freezing temperatures, simplifying storage requirements that can make delivery of the vaccine easier.
The Pfizer vaccine previously had to be stored in ultra-cold freezers at minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit. That posed a challenge for the distribution of the vaccine in places such as rural areas or low-income countries that do not have widespread ultra-cold storage capacity.
The new movement allows the vaccine to be stored for up to two weeks at “conventional temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers.”
“This alternative temperature for transport and storage of the undiluted vials is significant and allows the vials to be transported and stored under more flexible conditions,” said Peter Marks, a senior FDA vaccine official, in a statement.
“The alternative temperature for transport and storage will help ease the purchase of ultra-low cold storage equipment for vaccination sites and should help get the vaccine to more sites,” he added.
Pfizer filed with the FDA last week for the less stringent storage requirements after it conducted research into safe storage temperatures.
In addition, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which could be approved by the FDA this weekend, was eagerly awaited, not only because it will add to the US vaccine supply, but because it does not require ultra-cold storage.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also just one injection, while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have a two-dose regimen.