Doses will be available at four health centres in Dubai from Wednesday
Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccines must be kept at temperatures of -70 °C. Here, they are being transported in a special trailer from the plane to Emirates Sky Pharma for storage. Courtesy: Dubai Media Office
The ultra-cold storage is necessary to prevent the mRNA in them – the technology used to deliver the vaccines – from breaking down.
The vaccine will be given free of cost in Dubai.
Keeping the vaccines at -70 °C maintains the structure of the mRNA for up to six months.
There has never been a vaccine or drug that has required such cold storage before, which meant Pfizer had to develop a special method to transport the doses.