PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Medical Center was prepared Monday for the first delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19.
The vaccine, given emergency authorization for use last week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, must be kept at super cold temperatures of at least minus-70 degree Celsius. It's being distributed in a packaging — the so-called "pizza box" — that will allow doses to be kept cold with dry ice for at least a few weeks.
But it's easier to use an ultra-cold freezer, which arrived at BMC on Wednesday from the Berkshire Innovation Center.
"We are deeply grateful to the Berkshire Innovation Center and its staff for helping Berkshire Health Systems in its efforts to effectively distribute the COVID-10 vaccine," Director of Media Relations Michael Leary wrote in an email.