On the third day of the immunisation drive against COVID-19 in our country, Prime Minister Edi Rama inspected the pharmaceutical warehouses at the University Hospital Centre and the Public Health Institute in Tirana to closely see the cold chain storage capacity for the coronavirus vaccines.
Accompanied by the Minister of Health Ogerta Manastirlitu, PM Rama visited first the pharmaceutical warehouse at the University Hospital Centre, where cold chain storage capacities have been built to for the COVID-19 vaccines due to be delivered soon. “The Refrigerators and freezers that provide storage temperatures at -70 degrees Celsius have been already installed. The Pfizer vaccine doses are currently being stored at ultra low temperatures at the Public Health Institute, whereas these are the additional capacities for the vaccine storage. We have built storage capacities at temperature -70 degrees Celsius for over 250,000 vaccine doses at a time. We have also developed storage capacities at temperatures -20 degrees Celsius for over 950,000 doses of the Moderna vaccines that will be delivered. As to the other sorts of vaccines that require storage conditions at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, we have storage capacities for more than 7 million doses,” Health Minister Manastirliu said.
The freezers with storage capacities at -80 degrees Celsius are all locked and they are completely safe at storage facilities where security cameras have been installed along with all other security and safety elements. The government head highlighted the investment in vaccine storage chain. “If it was for the old pharmaceutical warehouse, the vaccines would have been at the mercy of God,” the Premier noted.
After the visit to the pharmaceutical depot at the University Hospital Centre, PM Rama also visited the premises where the Pfizer vaccines are also stored at the Public Health Institute. Entire cold chain at the Public Health Institute has been renovated recently, whereas more investments in storage capacities are underway at health care centres across the country. “Investments have been implemented to build cold chain capacities at health care centres and we are ready to store even vaccines that require standard temperatures. The current storage capacities are estimated at around 7 million vaccine doses,” Manastirliu noted.
The initial Pfizer vaccine doses secured to vaccinate doctors, nurses and epidemiologists are transported in line with the storage standards to the Air Albania stadium where vaccination drive continues according to a previously developed strategy.
