Singapore approves storage of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at refrigerator temperatures

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has given its approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be stored at refrigerator temperatures – between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius – for up to 31 days.

The new storage condition will greatly facilitate the transportation and local distribution of the vaccine to vaccination centres, as well as their storage and use at the centres, HSA said in a press release on Tuesday (May 25).

This is important in ensuring the "steady progress" of the country's vaccination programme, it said.

The new storage condition was approved on May 20, following a thorough review of the application and supplemental data submitted by Pfizer, the agency said.

It comes after the United States' Food and Drug Administration on May 19 authorised storage of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at refrigerator temperatures for up to a month.

READ: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be stored in refrigerator for a month, US says

"HSA has determined that the thawed, undiluted COVID‐19 vaccine remains stable when stored at standard refrigerator temperatures (2 to 8 degrees Celsius) for 31 days," said the authority.

The long-term storage temperature for the vaccine remains at minus 70 degrees Celsius, it added.

In HSA's initial authorisation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in December last year, it approved temporary storage of the vaccine after thawing at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for up to five days.

In February, HSA authorised a change indicating that the vaccine can be stored at standard freezer temperature, or minus 20 degrees Celsius, for up to two weeks.

The newly extended storage condition at refrigerator temperature is a "significant improvement" over existing storage conditions, said HSA CEO Mimi Choong.

"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," said Dr Choong.

Singapore has approved two COVID-19 vaccines for use, made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both vaccines require two doses.

READ: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine safe for those aged 12 to 15, says committee in response to open letter by doctors

Last week, the Ministry of Health announced that Singapore will extend the interval between the first and second vaccine doses to between six and eight weeks, up from three to four weeks.

The shift in vaccination strategy is to prioritise more people getting their first dose of the vaccine.

With this new strategy, Singapore aims to have about 4.7 million people, or about 82 per cent of its population, receiving at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by August, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

As of May 9, about 1.8 million people in Singapore have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 1.2 million of them having completed the full vaccination regimen.

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