Low-temperature refrigerators have been installed in a secure room at the University of Arizona in preparation for future storage of COVID-19 vaccines.
Low-temperature refrigerators have been installed in a secure room at the University of Arizona in preparation for future storage of Covid-19 vaccines. (Chris Richards/University of Arizona)
The University of Arizona says it expects to serve as a “hub” for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine with a new storage site able to hold 1.6 million doses required to be kept at subzero temperatures.
Each of the eight storage freezers making up the university’s “freezer farm” will potentially hold 100,000 to 187,000 doses of the vaccine built by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna.
Seven of the freezers will store the Pfizer doses at minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit while Moderna’s will need storage at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit in order to maintain its structural integrity and functionality.
There are two additional freezers on the way that can hold doses at minus 4 Fahrenheit, the school said Friday in a news release.
“While specialized facilities are necessary to provide ultracold storage for the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine can be stored in freezers that are commonly found at health-care provider offices and pharmacies,” the UA said.
The vaccines are built using messenger-ribonucleic acid, a single-stranded biological molecules that “teach our cells how to make a protein — or even just a piece of a protein — that triggers an immune response inside our bodies,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s unlike traditional vaccines, the CDC said, made with a “weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies” to trigger an immune response.
The CDC said the “mRNA vaccines do not use the live virus that causes COVID-19 and do not affect or interact with our DNA in any way.”
Before they arrive at the UA, the doses will be kept in boxes where dry ice can be replaced every five days for a maximum of 15 days.
The UA expects the first doses to arrive by next week, where they could help the state’s medical providers with distribution.
“Each freezer at the UArizona freezer farm will be closely monitored by trained personnel, and several tanks of liquid nitrogen are on hand to help maintain safe freezing conditions in case of technical issues or power outages,” the school said. “The secure facility has restricted access and is monitored 24/7 to prevent unauthorized entry. For added security, no individual is able to access the facility alone.”
Dr. Michelle Chester draws the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Dr. Michelle Chester holds a syringe of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Dr. Michelle Chester holds a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Dr. Michelle Chester holds a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Nurse Annabelle Jimenez, left, congratulates nurse Sandra Lindsay after she was inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at the Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Nurse Sandra Lindsay, center, gives an interview after she was inoculated with the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at the Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo participates in a video conference call after a nurse was inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Nurse Sandra Lindsay bumps elbows with hospital publicist Joseph Kemp after she was inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Nurse Sandra Lindsay participates in a conference call with Gov. Andrew Cuomo after she was inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at the Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Dr. Michelle Chester, left, holds a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine after it was handed to her by pharmacy director Dana Rucco at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Pharmacy director Dana Rucco, center, shows medical director Richard Schwarz the container used to deliver the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at the Jewish Medical Center, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool)
Pharmacists wheel a box containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a freezer as it arrives at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A FedEx driver delivers a box containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A box containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is wheeled to a freezer as it arrives at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Contact Star reporter Shaq Davis at 573-4218 or sdavis@tucson.com
On Twitter: @ShaqDavis1
Shaq Davis
Reporter
Shaq is a public safety reporter and the Road Runner columnist, keeping readers up to date on transportation news. In 2017, he started as an apprentice and later worked part-time until graduating from the UA and being offered a full-time position in 2018.
