KAGWE WANTS TO BE GIVEN 1.4 BILLION BY THE GOVERNMENT

The Ministry of Health has requested Sh1.4 billion from the Treasury to expand vaccine storage facilities throughout the country and buy freezers that can store jabs at -70°C.

Head of the Covid-19 vaccine deployment task force Willis Akhwale said available facilities can achieve -20 degrees Celsius and store up to 20 million vials.

“Facilities with -70 are available in Kemri and a few other facilities but they are already holding other biologicals. We do not want to contaminate vaccines with those biologicals,” he said. Biologicals are products made from or containing components of living organisms.

“We are also cautious not to interrupt the routine immunisation even as we deploy the vaccines,” he said.

Dr Akhwale was addressing a virtual meeting organised by a doctors’ lobby — the Kenya Medical Association.

Nearly all vaccines demand strict temperature controls. The World Health Organization says about half of the vaccines distributed around the world go to waste, mostly because of failure to properly control storage temperatures.

Some Covid-19 vaccines that use strands of genetic material known as mRNA need to be kept at ultracold temperatures, such as -70 for Pfizer and -20 for Moderna, to remain stable.

The two have the highest efficacy of any WHO-authorised vaccines, at 95 per cent.

Last week, Pfizer presented new data showing its vaccine no longer needs ultra-cold storage and can be stored at -25°C to -15°C for a total of two weeks.

By The Star