As Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine inches closer and closer to gaining clearance from authorities, the world is preparing to acquire what could be the key to ending this year-long pandemic.
Ford Motor Company, for example, was said to have already purchased a dozen “ultra-cold freezers” that are capable of storing Pfizer’s vaccine. This was confirmed by a report by Al Jazeera. Ford’s procurement is part of the company’s attempt to ensure that all of its workers will have access to the vaccine once it receives the go signal for nationwide distribution.
“We’re doing this so that we can make the vaccine available to our employees on a voluntary basis,” said Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker.
The American carmaker was said to have purchased the freezers on its own and is not in cahoots with other entities. However, the company did not disclose how much the freezers cost nor from which manufacturer these will be sourced, but these are supposedly priced between $5,000 to $15,000 (from around P240,000 to P720,000).
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines require a storing temperature of -70 degrees Celsius, which is much lower than the standard vaccine’s requirement of 2-8 degrees Celsius, and these specialty freezers are specced to meet just that. However, manufacturers are supposedly now asking for months-long lead time for the delivery of units.
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