With now two coronavirus vaccines en route to Massachusetts, a number of state hospitals still don’t have ultra-cold freezers needed to store the Pfizer/BioNTech immunizations, prompting some to borrow storage units from neighboring facilities.
In Western Massachusetts, Berkshire Medical Center has already borrowed two of the ultra-cold freezers while staff wait for an order of storage supplies to arrive.
But that won’t be until sometime in January, hospital officials said.
“Berkshire Innovation Center has loaned us a freezer” in the meantime, said Michael Leary, a spokesperson for Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.
Fairview Hospital, which is also part of Berkshire Health Systems, received a freezer on loan from Berkshire School. Leary said the lack of storage has been a “significant hurdle” that staff are trying to overcome.
“We are very grateful to the two orgs that loaned us those freezers without cost,” Leary said.
But while it’s been widely reported that Pfizer’s vaccine needs to be stored at temperatures of minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 Fahrenheit), some hospitals in Massachusetts say they don’t need them — at least not right now.
The Pfizer vaccine is being shipped out in thermal containers, which can preserve the vaccines for up to 30 days if replenished with dry ice. With the state receiving fewer doses than expected the first week of vaccinations, and virtually the entire health care community clamoring to get the shots, there has been little need for long-term storage.
Experts say that once out of dry ice, the shots can also be stored in conventional refrigerators for up to five days. So ultra-cold storage is technically not required to administer the vaccine.
But the freezers will become necessary over time as the demand calms down.
“You have to sort of plan ahead,” said Dr. Francis Powers, chief medical officer for Harrington HealthCare System. “We’re asking ourselves every day, how many doses are we supposed to use today?”
Harrington Hospital is expecting an ultra-cold freezer, which Powers says the hospital “planned on having by now.” Staff have had a supply of dry ice ready to receive the Pfizer vaccine in advance of its arrival in Massachusetts last week.
“There are so many supply chain issues,” Power said, adding that hospitals have “developed a distrust for the whole system.”
Other hospitals haven’t yet seen a need for ultra-cold storage. Cooley Dickinson Hospital, for example, doesn’t have a freezer and hasn’t purchased one.
“Purchasing an ultra-cold freezer was not recommended as the shipping container from Pfizer has the ability to maintain ultra-cold temperatures up to 30 days, if replenished with dry ice,” said Christina Trinchero, a spokeswoman for Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
Federal officials say the mRNA vaccines — Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s — are the first of their kind authorized for use in the U.S compared to traditional vaccines, which typically work by injecting a less potent or inactivated germ into the body to trigger an immune response.
Both COVID-19 vaccines deploy genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, into the human body. The RNA material instruct cells in the human body to create the spike proteins from the COVID-19 virus so that the immune system can recognize the pathogen early upon infection.
The next few shipments of the Pfizer’s COVID vaccine will contain fewer doses than officials anticipated — about 20% fewer, Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said on Friday.
State officials say they were expecting an additional 180,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine before the end of the year. The Department of Public Health has been informed that the state will instead get a little more than 145,000, Sudders said, noting previously the “fast-moving and ever-changing” nature of the national rollout.
“We will continue to pivot as necessary,” Sudders said.
Baker said officials aren’t sure if the reduction in doses will impact the three-phased timeline proposed several weeks ago.
Additionally, state officials have ordered 120,000 first doses of the Moderna vaccine, which health care workers have already begun administering to frontline staff across the state. According to CNN, Moderna’s rollout is four times as large as Pfizer’s, with doses being sent not just to hospitals, but to CVS and Walgreens nationwide.
Still, some Massachusetts hospitals are largely in the dark about how many doses of each vaccine will be available and when.
“We don’t have a lot of control over the situation,” Powers said.
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