SACKVILLE, NB – Mount Allison University is assisting in New Brunswick’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by providing ultra-low freezer space, lots of it. The Sackville university is loaning two -80-degree lab freezers to the province for vaccine storage over the coming months.

Normally used in the departments of Biology and Chemistry & Biochemistry to preserve lab samples and specialized chemicals, researchers reorganized their labs over the holiday break with help from researchers in Psychology, to enable two of the University’s -80-degree lab freezers to be loaned to New Brunswick Public Health for COVID-19 vaccine storage and distribution across the province. The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine requires -80-degree storage.

“Mount Allison is pleased to be assisting New Brunswick in the fight against COVID-19,” says Dean of Science Dr. Amanda Cockshutt. “Vaccine distribution is a key lever in controlling the pandemic and we are happy to help with the required freezer storage. While the research of many faculty and students at Mount Allison has been disrupted by the pandemic and the regulations that have accompanied it, we are grateful to be able to continue our research on campus, and are excited to be able to contribute to the vaccine rollout. Thank you to all of the researchers who took time from their break to make this happen.”

The province plans to have -80 freezers across the province’s health regions to store the vaccine.

Find more information about COVID-19 and the Government of New Brunswick’s response and programs at: gnb.ca/coronavirus

Photo caption: Two -80-degree freezers were picked up on the Mount Allison University campus by the Government of New Brunswick earlier this month. The University is loaning two -80-degree lab freezers, usually used for research purposes, to the province for vaccine storage over the coming months