Moderna vaccine

Manufacturing

The Moderna news followed preliminary results from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, with Moderna demonstrating similar efficacy, but requiring storage at the temperature of a standard medical refrigerator of 2–8 °C (36–46 °F) for up to thirty days or −20 °C (−4 °F) for up to four months, whereas the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate requires ultracold freezer storage between −80 and −60 °C (−112 and −76 °F). Low-income countries usually have cold chain capacity for only standard refrigerator storage, not ultracold freezer storage. In February 2021, the restrictions on the Pfizer vaccine were relaxed when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated the emergency use authorization (EUA) to permit undiluted frozen vials of the vaccine to be transported and stored at between −25 and −15 °C (−13 and 5 °F) for up to two weeks before use. The Moderna vaccine should not be stored at a temperature below −50 °C (−58 °F).