Monterey Bay Aquarium lends freezer to hospital for vaccine storage

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION) The first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine began arriving last week, and this vaccine needs to be kept at extremely low temperatures.

In an effort to help, Natividad said the Monterey Bay Aquarium lent the hospital an ultra-cold freezer days before the first 975 doses of the vaccine arrived.

"We planned to hold the vaccine on dry ice, but that would have been a lot of extra work," said Natividad Assistant Administrator Andrea Rosenberg, who oversees operations for the hospital. "We are very grateful to the Aquarium for our collaboration." 

The aquarium said it has a second freezer that it is using for its own needs.

"We'll only be able to weather this crisis if everyone pitches in and does their part to help," said Aquarium Public Affairs Director Barbara Meister. "We're all in this together, and the Aquarium is fully committed to helping Monterey County in its COVID-19 response."

The specialized freezers required to store the Pfizer vaccine can cost $5,000 to $10,000, according to a Natividad news release.

Natividad has also received 1,400 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, but those can be stored in standard freezers.