US FDA Allows Transportation, Storage Of Pfizer Vaccine At Ordinary Pharma Freezers

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2021) The US food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it is possible to transport and store the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at conventional temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers.

The manufacturers of the vaccine previously required storage temperatures from 76 to 112 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. This requirement posed a serious challenge to distribution, especially among less developed nations without the cold chain infrastructure.

"Today [on Thursday], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it is allowing undiluted frozen vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to be transported and stored at conventional temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks," the FDA said.

According to the agency, the new storage conditions have become possible due to additional information provided by Pfizer. The alternative temperature for transportation and storage is expected to ease the burden of procuring ultra-low cold storage equipment for vaccination sites and should increase the distribution of the vaccine.