IOWA - Rural Iowa hospitals are set to benefit from the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine that's being distributed around the state.
Moderna offers more flexibility because it can be stored in a regular refrigerator for up to 30 days, unlike the Pfizer vaccine which requires a deep freezer. Pfizer doses must be stored at minus 94 degrees fahrenheit.
The state's largest hospital at the University of Iowa purchased two ultra-low deep freezers specifically to house Pfizer doses.
Rural hospitals with lower budgets could gain from access to the nearly 54,000 Moderna vaccines coming to the state that are less challenging to store.
The state's expected to receive another roughly 20,000 doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines by the Monday after Christmas, bringing the state's total to 138,000 for the month of December.
The state initially was expecting 168,000 doses, but the figure dropped by nearly 20 percent after the federal government adjusted shipments to states.