DOH: Not all potential COVID-19 vaccines will need ultra-cold storage

Not all possible vaccines against COVID-19 will need ultra-low-temperature (ULT) laboratory freezers for storage, Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Vergeire noted that while vaccines manufactured by certain companies such as Pfizer and Moderna will need to be stored in ULT freezers—which maintain temperatures lower than -40 degrees Celsius—other vaccine candidates may be stored in facilities at 2 to 8 °C.

“For other vaccines, sila po iyong gumagamit ng existing platforms na ang requirement is a cold chain facility with a temperature of two to eight degrees centigrade. Meron po tayo nito sa ating bansa,” Vergeire said.

“We have enough of this because this is the one we have been using for the longest time for our national immunization program,” she added.

The health official added that the DOH is touching base with both the public and private sector to ensure that the country will have enough storage facilities equipped with ULT freezers for -80°C storage if needed.

“Of course, we want to have storage facilities to store as many vaccines once it becomes available,” Vergeire  said.

“We are talking with different sectors and even the private sector so we would have enough storage facilities, including in regional areas, para mas maging madali ang distribution natin pagdating ng panahon na dumating na ito[ng mga bakuna],” she added.

Vergeire said that lawmakers and multilateral agencies have assured the DOH of funding support when it comes to speeding up the distribution of safe and effective vaccines to the population.

“They have committed na tutulong po sila, at iyong multilateral agencies such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank and World Health Organization. [They] also said that they will help us in implementation and operational details of distributing the vaccine against COVID-19,” she said.

Earlier this month, Senator Francis Tolentino suggested that the DOH tap the services of ice cream manufacturers to ensure that there will be enough storage facilities for vaccines against COVID-19.

The Philippines has recorded 375,180 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, including 7,114 deaths. — BM, GMA News