Pfizer vaccine can be stored in regular freezers, company says

Person carrying freezing Pfizer vaccines.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine faced severe limitations for the first few months of its distribution because it had to be stored in an ultracold freezer — something everyday clinics and impromptu vaccine centers don't have.

But the two companies revised that guidance on Friday, saying the vaccines only need to be stored in a regular freezer, The Wall Street Journal reports. They're now looking to officially change the vaccine's storage guidance with the Food and Drug Administration. That will likely make it possibly for more distribution centers, as well as poorer countries that lack specialized freezers, to stock the vaccine, and make transporting the doses easier as well.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.