IMPORTANT: PFIZER EXPIRATION EXTENSION - FOR ULTRA COLD STORAGE ONLY

Maine Department of Health & Human Services sent this bulletin at 09/08/2021 12:58 PM EDT

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IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ ALL INFORMATION IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING ATTACHMENT.

PFIZER EXPIRATION EXTENSION IS ONLY FOR VACCINE IN ULTRA-COLD STORAGE.

The Maine Immunization Program is seeing an increase in expired COVID-19 vaccinations being given to patients.

On August 23, 2021, we sent out a communication (please see attachment below) regarding an extension of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, however, this guidance ONLY pertained to vaccine being stored in ULTRA-COLD storage units, NOT vaccine that has been refrigerated or in a regular freezer.

If a vaccine has been given to a patient beyond it's expiration date, the patient will need to be re-immunized, as the viability of the vaccine cannot be guaranteed.

Please also note that once the vaccine has been pulled from your ultra-cold unit, the vaccine only has a 30 day window of viability, OR expires in 30 days once placed in the refrigerator. It is the responsibility of the provider site to maintain the expiration date. Expiration dates will NOT be updated in ImmPact.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the Maine Immunization Program at 207-287-3746.

Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Expiration Extension.pdf

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