World

Kyrgyzstan Not Acquiring Pfizer Vaccine Against COVID-19 Due to Lack of Suitable Freezers

BISHKEK (Sputnik) - Kyrgyzstan does not intend to take the shipment of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19, as the country lacks the suitable refrigerators to store the vaccine, Kyrgyz Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliev said on Tuesday.
Sputnik

"We were offered the US Pfizer vaccine. However, the vaccine must be kept in a freezer at minus 70 degrees Celcius (minus 94 F). We were offered more than a million doses free of charge. But to store the vaccine, we need special refrigerators. But we do not have such refrigerators," Beishenaliev said.

According to the minister, one refrigerator capable of maintaining the needed temperature costs about $4,000. Another $2 million is needed to store the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, he added.

The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine codenamed BNT162b2 is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by BioNTech in cooperation with Pfizer. It is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorised by a stringent regulatory authority for emergency use and the first cleared for regular use.

Discuss