Pfizer vaccine can be stored for a month in a refrigerator

The FDA, the US agency that manages and controls the use of vaccines, reported that the Pfizer vaccine can now be stored for a month in a traditional freezer, without any problem.

Until now, the limit for storing the vaccine in that environment was a maximum of five days. However, new tests have shown that it can be stably maintained at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius for up to 30 days.

On the official FDA site they explain that “this change will allow for greater availability of vaccines for the American public,” as more places and facilities will be able to store them safely for use. Of course, outside the refrigerator and once diluted, they should be applied within a period of no more than six hours.

This new regulation on the use of the Pfizer vaccine is an important change compared to the way it was done until now. Storage was one of the main challenges in preserving units, even in hospitals with modern and advanced equipment.

Now, the Pfizer vaccine will have a similar handling to the CureVac, a German vaccine whose great “advantage” over the Pfizer and Moderna solutions was precisely that it did not need too extreme temperatures to be stored safely.

In any case, CureVac is still a product in development, therefore the use of Pfizer (plus Moderna and Sinovac) are the main weapons in the war against COVID-19 that seems to have no end yet.