Coronavirus: First images of freezers containing Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for UK emerge

The Public Health England (PHE) has released the first pictures of freezers containing the COVID-19 vaccine developed by American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer. The vaccine vials are required to be stored at a temperature of minus 70 to minus 80 degrees Celcius. However, the pictures of Pfizer's vaccine stored inside those freezers have not been released yet due to the packaging of the vials. The vaccine doses dispatched by Pfizer from Belgium will have to undergo post-delivery assessment upon arrival in the United Kingdom. 

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The picture taken of the interior of the freezer shows pizza boxes-like containers stacked vertically in three rows.  The image shows 19 freezers, which can each hold 80,000 doses of vaccine. The images of the freezers were taken at a secure location in the United Kingdom, where the vaccine reached on December 4. The United Kingdom on December 2 became the first country in the world to approve Pfizer vaccine after regulators gave emergency use authorisation to its mRNA-based vaccine. 

Read: Pfizer Seeks Emergency Use Authorisation For COVID-19 Vaccine In India After UK Clearance

Vaccination drive in the UK

The country has set-up over 50 vaccination centres across the United Kingdom and has also issued guidance for health practitioners about the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination programme. High-risk groups including doctors and other frontline workers will be prioritised for the vaccination drive that will be run by the National Health Service (NHS). People with underlying health conditions, children, and pregnant women have been left out of the vaccination drive in the United Kingdom due to no data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines on these groups. 

Read: UK PM Johnson Urges People To Take COVID-19 Vaccine, But Won't Make It Mandatory

The British government has reportedly received 8,00,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine that it has developed in partnership with German company BioNTech. The government is expected to secure additional doses of the vaccine, which will be delivered by the end of this year. Every batch of the vaccine will go through independent lab testing done by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control to ensure safety. 

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(Image Credit: Public Health England/PA)