US Allows Pfizer Vaccine to be Stored at Refrigerator Temperatures for a Month

The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine can be saved at fridge temperatures for up to a month within the United States, the nation’s well being regulator introduced Wednesday, in a change anticipated to assist distribution of the shot.

The US Food and Drug Administration stated it had made the choice “based mostly on a assessment of latest information submitted by Pfizer,” and will allow vials of the vaccine to be stored at refrigerator temperatures of 2-8 degrees Celsius (35-46 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to one month.

The vials were previously only allowed to be kept at such temperatures for five days.

“This change should make this vaccine more widely available to the American public by facilitating the ability of vaccine providers, such as community doctors’ offices, to receive, store and administer the vaccine,” stated Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

The European Medicines Agency On Monday additionally permitted the storage of the Pfizer vaccine in fridges for up to a month. The FDA had already relaxed circumstances for the vaccine’s storage in February, permitting it to be saved “at standard temperatures generally present in pharmaceutical freezers for a interval of up to two weeks” rather than ultra-low freezer temperature of -80 to -60 degrees Celsius.

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