Four freezers to store Pfizer vaccines arrive in Nepal

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Sept. 10: Four freezers, provided under COVAX facility via UNICEF, capable of storing an additional 120,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine, have arrived in Nepal.

All four freezers, with 100-litre capacity, are stored in Airport and are yet to be presented to Nepal by the COVAX facility. 

According to Bade Bahadur Thapa, senior pharmacist officer at the Department of Health Services (DoHS), four freezers will be available to store additional 120,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines at minus 60-80 degrees Celsius.

Currently, Nepal lacks the physical infrastructure, or ultra-cold freezers, which can store Pfizer vaccines. Pfizer needs to be stored at minus 60-80 degrees Celsius (in ultra-cold freezers), and Moderna needs to be stored at minus 15-20 degrees Celsius.

The government has agreed to purchase six million Pfizer and four million Moderna vaccines for children.