NEW YORK (US) – Pfizer Inc has started a pilot delivery programme for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in four US states.
Pfizer’s vaccine must be shipped and stored at -70 degrees Celsius (minus 94°F), significantly below the standard for vaccines of 2-8 degrees Celsius (36-46°F).
Pfizer said in a statement on Monday, “We are hopeful that results from this vaccine delivery pilot will serve as the model for other US states and international governments, as they prepare to implement effective COVID-19 vaccine programmes,”
It chose Rhode Island, Texas, New Mexico, and Tennessee for the programme after taking into account various factors such as their differences in overall size, diversity of populations, immunisation infrastructure, and need to reach individuals in varied urban and rural settings.
The four states will not receive vaccine doses earlier than other states by virtue of the pilot, nor will they get a special or a different consideration, Pfizer said.
The company expects to have sufficient safety data on the vaccine from the ongoing large scale late-stage trials by the third week of November before going ahead with applying for emergency use authorisation (EUA).
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE have a $1.95 billion deal to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine to the US government.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use a new technology called synthetic messenger RNA to activate the immune system against the virus.