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 problems.
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 kept stable at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius for up to 30 days.
The official FDA website explains that "this change will allow for greater availability of vaccines for the American public," as more places and facilities will be able to safely store them for use. However, once removed from the refrigerator and diluted, they must be administered within six hours.
This new regulation regarding the use of the Pfizer vaccine is a significant change from how it was done until now. Storage was one of the main challenges for preserving the units, even in hospitals with modern and advanced equipment.
Now, the Pfizer vaccine will be handled similarly to CureVac, a German vaccine whose great "advantage" over Pfizer and Moderna solutions was precisely that it did not need overly extreme temperatures for safe storage.
In any case, CureVac is still a product under development, therefore the use of Pfizer (plus Moderna and Sinovac) are the main weapons in the war against COVID-19 that still seems to have no end.
