Covid-19: HSA approves Pfizer vaccine storage in fridge for up to a month

SINGAPORE — The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) on Tuesday (May 25) approved the storage of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines at refrigerator temperatures for up to a month, a move it said will greatly ease the transporting and distribution of doses to vaccination centres.

Thawed and undiluted vials of the vaccine may now be stored at 2°C to 8°C for up to 31 days, up from an earlier limit of five days, the authority said in a statement. Long-term storage will, however, remain at -70°C.

The change will make storing the vaccine easier at vaccine centres and ensures the “steady progress” of Singapore's vaccination programme, HSA said. The vaccine is produced by American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

Dr Mimi Choong, HSA’s chief executive officer, said that the move is a “significant improvement over the existing storage conditions”.

HSA said that the approval was the result of a “thorough review” of new data submitted by Pfizer.

Before the change, Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines could only be stored at refrigerator temperatures for up to five days and at standard freezer temperatures (-20°C) for up to two weeks.

The HSA’s approval follows similar announcements over the past week by drug regulators around the world, including in the United States, the European Union and Canada.

“HSA's evaluators will continue to conduct rigorous and efficient assessments of evolving scientific and real-world data, to facilitate Singapore’s continued access to critical Covid-19 vaccines and medicines and support our nation’s battle against the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dr Choong added.

American pharmaceutical firm Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, the only other brand approved for use in Singapore, may be stored for a month at standard refrigerator temperatures and six months at -20°C.