The results of the third and final phase of human trials of the Corona vaccine of Pfizer Inc. of the United States and BioN Tech of Germany came to light this week, in which it was declared to be 90% effective in preventing covid 19.
So the answer is that apparently this is not possible because of the warmer weather, populations in remote areas, the lack of freezers that provide more cooling, and the limited availability of vaccines in most Asian countries, including Pakistan, and developing nations. Can't rely on Pfizer's experimental vaccine for early epidemic prevention.
Medical experts are cautious about the preliminary results, which are yet to be approved and will require minus 70 degrees Celsius or less to store the vaccine.
This condition of storage will be a major challenge for countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where the weather is warmer and the quality of infrastructure is not very good, leading to the lack of cold storage infrastructure for vaccines in rural areas and islands. Preparation will be very difficult.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 70 percent of the world's population must develop immunity to the virus in order to eradicate the epidemic.
Some Asian countries are preferring to prevent the Novel Corona virus rather than collecting vaccines, while others are looking for alternatives to Pfizer's Messenger RNA technology-based vaccines, which provide much-cooled storage. Locations will be required.
80% of the doses are already sold out
According to the NPR report, Pfizer will produce only a limited number (1.3 billion) doses of the vaccine by 2021, and one person will be given two doses over a 21-year period.
That means 1.3 billion doses will only be used by 650 million people, while 80% of the company's supply is already purchased from the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and Japan.
Simply put, it will be very difficult for other countries, especially poor ones, to get the vaccine.
Raquel Silverman of the Center for Global Development in Washington told NPR: "After the distribution in developed countries, the vaccine will not be available in large quantities. The vaccine will not be available to most people in poor and middle-class countries." At least not by the end of next year.
"The need for a cold chain of minus 70 degrees Celsius is a very difficult condition, we don't have such centers, we have to wait, new technology is being used by Pfizer," Philippine Health Secretary Francois Ducio told Reuters. If you do not have any experience with it, then the risk of use may be higher.
Firezer told Reuters it was working on details of logistics plans and tools to assist in the continuous monitoring of vaccine delivery, storage and temperature.
"We are also working to innovate in the areas of hacking and storage to ensure vaccinations in different locations,"
Rich countries such as South Korea and South Korea are also less optimistic about the vaccine.
"Storage will be a big challenge for us. I don't think our government is well-equipped to manage cold storage. Hospitals in Japan don't usually have ultra-cold freezers," said Fumi Sakamoto, infection control manager at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo. Yes, but I think we should start sleeping on vaccine logistics now.
Japan has signed an agreement to buy 120 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, while China has also bought 10 million doses for Hong Kong and Macau.
Kun Joon-wook, an official with South Korea's Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said he would first like to see how vaccination progresses in other countries and will review the supply chain.
South Korea recently lost 5 million doses of the flu vaccine due to cold storage problems.
A 2018 study by the company found that out of 2,200 private clinics, only 25 percent have medical refrigerators, while 40 percent use household refrigerators.
Indonesia is a country of more than 17,000 islands, and according to Airlangga Hartarto, head of the covid 19 Response Team, we are considering a variety of corona vaccines, but not the Pfizer vaccine.
Vietnam has managed to control the corona epidemic through large-scale testing and strict border controls, and is focusing on prevention policies rather than vaccines.
Professor Atta-ur-Rehman, head of the Science and Technology Task Force, told VOA that Pfizer's Corona vaccine is not suitable for developing countries due to its cold storage needs.
He said it would be premature for Pakistan and other developing countries to be happy with Pfizer's announcement.
"Cold storage infrastructure and chains to transport the vaccine from the airport to cities and countries are not available in developing countries," he said.
He said that 2 doses of this vaccine would be required at intervals of 21 days and during this period it would be most difficult to keep it safe at extremely low temperatures.
