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Henry Ford Health System ready for COVID-19 Vaccine

DETROIT, Mich. — Henry Ford Health Systems is one of the only healthcare organizations in the country prepared for the COVID-19 vaccine the moment it is approved.

According to a press release from Henry Ford earlier in December, Henry Ford began installing and activating six vaccine storage freezers across the state of Michigan. Modern’sa vaccine needs to be stored and transported at minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit). The Pfizer vaccine requires more extreme refrigeration at minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit). That means health care organizations need special freezers to maintain the vaccines and their potency at these extremely low temperatures.

Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit will have two of these freezers, while Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, and Henry Ford Allegiance Health will each have one. Chief Clinical Advisor Adnan Munkarah says that health care professionals and both workers and residents at long-term living facilities, mainly nursing homes, will be the first group of people to receive vaccination.

The United States Food and Drug Administration will review the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 10, and Michigan could receive their first shipment two days later. Canada’s health regulator deemed the vaccine safe and efficient for use on Dec. 9.