Pfizer's new form of COVID-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in 2021, and it will be in a powder form. This innovation could help solve one of the biggest limitations of COVID-19 vaccines, which is the need for freezing refrigeration.
A medical worker administers a Flu vaccination during a free flu clinic vaccination event held by Meijer at Comerica Park on November 10, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. With Covid-19 cases skyrocketing around the US medical professionals fear that a bad flu season will only make things worse and further fill hospitals and deplete medical supplies around the nation.
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According to Business Insider's latest report, the company is already working on a new coronavirus vaccine that could get around its problem of needing to be kept in extremely cold temperatures.
The Daily Mail UK also reported that Mikael Dolsten, the chief scientific officer of Pfizer, said that the second version of the vaccine will be released in 2021.
Pfizer's current COVID-19 vaccine has a major downside
Last Monday, Nov. 9, the pharma giant revealed that its COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective in providing immunity to 94% of the study's participants. Because of the medicine's promising results, the company is now planning to apply for FDA's emergency-use approval.
A nurse gives a flu vaccination shot to a man at a free clinic held at a local library on October 14, 2020 in Lakewood, California. Medical experts are hoping the flu shot this year will help prevent a ‘twindemic’- an epidemic of influenza paired with a second wave of COVID-19 which could lead to overwhelmed hospitals amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But, the pharma giant's current coronavirus vaccine still has some limitations. One of these is that the COVID-19 drug needs to be stored at -70° Celsius or -94° Fahrenheit.
This is a major concern since some of the United States' top hospitals do not have the proper storages that provide the needed temperature.
Dolsten claimed that the upcoming powder form will solve the current challenge.
"We are thinking about a few possibilities for next-generation vaccines," he said via the Daily Mail UK.
"For the COVID-19 disease, I think we'll roll out next year a vaccine in powder format," he added.
The powder vaccine only needs normal refrigeration
Although Pfizer's chief scientific officer did not specify the exact temperature needed, he claimed that the new vaccine form will only require standard refrigeration. The company is currently making preparations to ship the vaccine in the necessary conditions.
The pharma giant's executives previously announced that the COVID-19 vaccine would be transported by land and air using GPS temperature-monitoring devices and dry ice. These will ensure that the COVID-19 drug is stored at the proper temperature.
For more news updates about Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Giuliano de Leon.
