Kyrgyzstan intends to abandon the coronavirus vaccine developed by the American company Pfizer in conjunction with the German BioNTech, since it cannot comply with the conditions for its storage. The Minister of Health of the country Alymkadyr Beishenaliev announced this on Tuesday, January 19, on the air of Birinchi radio.
“We were offered the American Pfizer vaccine, which should be stored at -70 degrees. We do not have such refrigerators, each of which costs $ 4,000. There is no such money in the budget, and we have to give up, ”he said.
According to Beishenaliev, Kyrgyzstan had to purchase equipment for $ 2 million to store the drug. He also added that the republic, under the COVAX program, was to receive over 1 million doses of Pfizer vaccine for free.
In addition, the minister stressed that the authorities are negotiating with Russia on the supply of the Sputnik V vaccine, for which the republic has the necessary equipment, since it is stored at – 2 … – 18 degrees Celsius. In addition, Beishenaliev said that over time, the production of one of the COVID-19 vaccines could be organized in Kyrgyzstan, since, according to him, the material for its manufacture is inexpensive.
On the eve it became known that in Estonia during the vaccination against coronavirus with a drug from Pfizer, two residents of nursing homes have died. They were 85 and 91 years old. At the same time, doctors do not associate their death with the use of the vaccine, since after its introduction, the pensioners had no side effects, including fever and vomiting.
Earlier, on January 17, The Epoch Time, citing reports from medical institutions and comments from relatives, reported that a total of 55 people died in the United States after vaccination against coronavirus with drugs produced by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna. It was noted that patients died within a few days after vaccination.
On January 14, it became known about the death of 23 people in Norway after being vaccinated with Pfizer / BioNTech against COVID-19. The vaccination campaign began in the country on December 27, 2020.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for use in Europe in December last year, and was later approved for use in the European Union by the American company Moderna.