The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved on Thursday the storage of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in standard freezing temperatures, helping to facilitate storage requirements that could facilitate delivery of the vaccine.
The Pfizer vaccine had to be stored in deep-frozen freezers at minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit at minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit. This represented 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 change will allow the vaccine to be stored at “conventional temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks”.
“This alternative temperature for transporting and storing undiluted vials is significant and allows the vials to be transported and stored in more flexible conditions,” said Peter Marks, a senior FDA vaccine official, in a statement.
“The alternative temperature for transportation and storage will help to ease the burden of purchasing ultra-low refrigerated storage equipment for vaccination sites and should help bring the vaccine to more locations,” he added.
Pfizer requested less stringent storage requirements from the FDA last week, after conducting studies on safe storage temperatures.
In addition, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which could be authorized by the FDA this weekend, is eagerly awaited not only because it will increase the vaccine stockpile in the United States, but because it does not require deep-frozen storage.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also an injection, while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have a two-dose regimen.