Nepal will prioritize the coronavirus vaccines which can be stored in standard refrigerator temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius as the Himalayan country does not have adequate freezing infrastructure for the vaccines which should be frozen below zero degree, health officials said.
The available coronavirus vaccines which have been either been allowed to be inoculated or in the final phase of trail can be stored in different temperatures.
For example, the vaccines produced by Chinese company Sinovac can be stored in a standard refrigerator at 2-8 degrees Celsius, while the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can also be stored in same temperature.
The U.S.-based company Moderna's vaccine needs to be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius and another U.S. company Pfizer's vaccine should be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
"Among the vaccines available, our priority is to procure the vaccines which can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius because most of the storage facilities that we have are suitable for this temperature," Jhalak Sharma, chief of the immunization section under the Department of Health Services, an agency under the health ministry, told Xinhua on Tuesday.
"However we are not rigid against accepting the vaccines which need to be stored in ultra-cold temperature."
According to Sharma, the existing storage facilities with 2-8 degrees Celsius can accommodate the vaccine doses for 3 percent of the population immediately. Nepal's estimated population is 30 million.
The Nepali government said it needs to vaccinate 72 percent of its population against coronavirus, as children below 14 years, who account for 28 percent of Nepal's population, cannot be immunized.
Last month, the government had sent letters to six countries, namely China, India, the United State, Britain, Russia and Australia, whose vaccines against the coronavirus have completed trials or in final trail for early availability in Nepal. ■
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