ANDOVER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — It takes three facilities across the U.S. to produce Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. In Andover, Pfizer employees have been working on the second part of that three-step process.
Once the vaccine's ingredients have been shipped from Pfizer's facility in St. Louis, Missouri, they arrive at the Andover location to be incubated. Then, the doses are sent to Kalamazoo, Michigan for the final touches, before being shipped to hospitals worldwide.
Vehicles were coming and going at the company's Andover facility this weekend, as the first shipments of the vaccine started their final leg of the journey to Michigan.
Planes and guarded UPS and FedEx trucks then started shipping the finished vaccines from the Kalamazoo facility Sunday morning to all 50 states, to the sound of cheers from Pfizer employees.
Since Pfizer's vaccine needs to be stored at temperatures below -94 degrees Fahrenheit, the company is using dry ice to package the doses for up to ten days.
WBZ NewsRadio's Matt Shearer reports:
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Written by Brit Smith
(Photo: Getty Images)