GALESBURG, Ill. — Healthcare workers this week in Knox County are receiving their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Local public health officials say the second vaccine to receive emergency use authorization from the FDA is better suited to medical facilities in rural areas.
"There's really no fanfare of ultra-cold storage," said Galesburg Cottage Hospital Pharmacy Director Natalee Blackford, comparing the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Unlike Pfizer's COVID vaccine, Moderna's does not require ultra-cold storage. Some hospitals and clinics in rural areas do not have freezers capable of meeting the ultra-cold storage requirements, making Moderna's vaccine a better fit.
"Refrigerator or freezer temperature, and that's a vaccine we are more used to dealing with," said Knox County Public Health Administrator Michele Gabriel. "And it showed up on our doorstep with all the ancillary supplies just like all of our other vaccines do."
Also in contrast with the Pfizer vaccine, which in some cases requires public health officials to make the trip to the Illinois strategic national stockpile for pick up, the Moderna vaccine can be delivered directly to hospitals and clinics by UPS or Fedex.
"It just comes in a regular cold storage box, with ice packs in it," Blackford said.