Liashko explains how COVID vaccine will be stored in Ukraine at low temperatures
Ukraine has found an opportunity to store the coronavirus vaccine at low temperatures, as required by the manufacturer.
Chief Sanitary Doctor Viktor Liashko stated this on the air of Ukraine 24.
He stressed that "in immunoprophylaxis, they've never used a temperature of – 80°C."
"We have improved our national warehouses, belonging to the Ministry of Health. There we really don't have the conditions to store such vaccines or medicines at a temperature of -80°C. We started working with private logistics pharmaceutical companies, and we came up with commercial offers," Liashko said.
According to the chief sanitary doctor, there's a possibility of "storage, logistics, transportation to the vaccine vaccination points at a temperature of -80°C" in national warehouses.
"Here's the logic: the vaccine arrives on a plane, from the car to the warehouse, we transport it in a thermal container with dry ice, then reload into refrigerators, where it can be stored for a long time. Next, we calculate how and in what quantity this vaccine should be brought to the vaccination point," Liashko said.
He added that the vaccine could be stored at the vaccination point for five days at a temperature of +2 to + 8°C.
The COVID-19 vaccine, developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, should be stored at -70 degrees Celsius, and after de-freezing, the shelf life of the drug is about five days at 2-8 degrees.
