HIGHLIGHT: COLORADO

Pueblo: In an undisclosed location in Pueblo County, there is a storage unit the size of a large freezer capable of holding thousands of doses of COVID- 19 vaccine. Public health officials hope that these immunizations – the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID- 19 vaccine, which arrived in Pueblo on Dec. 16, and the Moderna COVID- 19 vaccine, scheduled to arrive sometime this week – mark the beginning of the end of the pandemic. But the shots must first find their way out of the freezer, into a medical facility and ultimately, into the arms of enough Coloradans to stop the spread of the COVID- 19 virus. Because the Pfizer vaccine must be stored in extreme cold – minus- 94 degrees Fahrenheit – each hub also needed ultra- cold storage capabilities, which the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment already had.

COURTESY OF PUEBLO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT The storage freezer for Pfizer vaccines at the Pueblo County vaccine distribution hub.