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
BISHKEK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2021) 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.
"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.
