Second stock of Pfizer vaccines to be used in vaccination drive in Mannar

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka on Monday (12) received the second batch of 27,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

The consignment was part of the 800,000 COVID-19 jabs to be delivered to the island nation in the next few weeks.

A total of five million vaccines financed through the World Bank's Sri Lanka COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project will be supplied by December 2021, the World Bank said in its statement.

The global financial body is giving Sri Lanka USD 298.07 million dollars through its COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project, including an additional 80.5 million for vaccines.

The vaccines are procured through the procedure established in the loan agreement signed with Sri Lanka in May 2021, the statement said.

State Minister Channa Jayasumana speaking to News 1st said this batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines will be used to vaccinate people in the Mannar Distirct.

Sri Lanka said the first stock of Pfizer Coronavirus vaccines were to be given to students going abroad and to a group of fishermen in Mannar who may interact with colleagues in India.

– Pfizer developed packaging and storage innovations to be fit for purpose for the range of locations where we believe vaccinations will take place. Specially designed,temperature-controlled thermal shippers utilizing dry ice to maintain recommended storage temperature conditions of -70°C±10°C for up to 10 days unopened.

– GPS-enabled thermal sensors with a control tower that will track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment across their pre-set routes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

– These GPS-enabled devices will allow Pfizer to proactively prevent unwanted deviations and act before they happen.

Once a POU receives a thermal shipper with our vaccine, they have three options for storage:

* Ultra-low-temperature freezers, which are commercially available and can extend shelf life for up to six months.

* The Pfizer thermal shippers, in which doses will arrive, that can be used as temporary storage units by refilling with dry ice every five days for up to 30 days of storage.

* Refrigeration units that are commonly available in hospitals. The vaccine can be stored for five days at refrigerated 2-8°C conditions.

– After storage for up to 30 days in the Pfizer thermal shipper, vaccination centers can transfer the vials to 2-8°C storage conditions for an additional five days, for a total of up to 35 days.

– Once thawed and stored under 2-8°C conditions, the vials cannot be re-frozen or stored under frozen conditions.

– The various storage options at the POU allow for equitable access to the Pfizer vaccine to areas with differing infrastructure.