Maine colleges lend critical research freezers as state mobilizes for historic vaccine rollout UNE, SMCC, Bates and Colby lend ultra-cold freezers needed to store the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer. Karen Houseknecht opened the email and read what could have been a line from a spy novel. The state of Maine needed help from the University of New England and the matter had to be kept strictly confidential. It was Tuesday, Nov. 17, and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention needed an untold number of ultra-cold freezers by that Friday. An initial shipment of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer was expected to be delivered to Maine the following Monday and it had to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit).