Hospitals Receive Freezers In Preparation For COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout; Some Will Rely On City Of Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- While many large hospitals appear ready with the ultra cold refrigeration required for the COVID-19 vaccine, some smaller hospitals will be depending on the City of Chicago to chill and then fill their vaccine orders.
Norwegian American Hospital in Humboldt Park received its freezer Friday. Other hospitals don't have that kind of equipment. It is costly and can be hard to get.
"For the Pfizer vaccine the temperature does need to be minus 70 to 80 degrees Celsius," said Dr. Suzanne Pham, medical director of Weiss Memorial Hospital's COVID-19 response team.
Because of that, hospitals have had to use or invest in medical grade freezer storage -- the kind of equipment normally found in research facilities or academic buildings.
"Ultra cold freezer storage is not commonly used even in a hospital setting," Pham said.
Pham says as a result hospitals like hers and smaller ones will rely on help from the City of Chicago. The Department of Public Health says it has the capacity for 100,000 doses in cold storage and will need to help supply about half of the hospitals in the area.
"We can store the ultra cold vaccine in a small quantity here in the hospital. As we anticipate being able to receive more we will need to lean on the Chicago Department of Public Health," she said.
Pham said it is fortunate that is the case because freezer supply and demand may leave hospitals with no other choice.
"I also hear very much that we now have a national shortage of them," she said.
"I have heard some of that. At least in our hospital it hasn't been the case," said Dr. Dagoberto Camacho, clinician lead for the COVID-19 task force at Norwegian American Hospital. "We moved right away to acquire one of these ultra cold temperatures."
Camacho his freezer was acquired about a week or two ago. Despite having the cold capacity, he said having the city's freezers as an option is critical for COVID care throughout Chicago.
"To make sure that all health care personnel has access to the vaccine," he said.
So anecdotally there is a shortage, backlog or supply chain issue with the freezers, but CBS 2 reached out to the American Hospital Association for comment on that and had not heard back by 6 p.m. Friday.
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