$250,000 grant will fund ultra-cold-storage units to keep COVID-19 vaccines safe [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Dec. 18 Now that the COVID-19 vaccine has arrived, health care facilities that distribute it need a way to keep it very, very cold.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine introduced in the U.S. earlier this week requires an ultra-chilly storage temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius, and a vaccine from Moderna, expected to receive Food and Drug Administration approval Friday, requires storage conditions of minus 20 degrees Celsius more like a typical household freezer.
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh plans to purchase the cold-storage units needed to maintain the vaccines’ efficacy with a $250,000 grant awarded recently by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.