Trial run to see if Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine can withstand transport to Belaga will use saline water as substitute, says Dr Rundi

Dr Rundi speaking to the press after the event. Photo by Roystein Emmor

KUCHING (Jan 28): A trial run to test the sustainability of the Covid-19 vaccine to be supplied by Pfizer-BioNTech and delivered to Belaga at temperatures below negative 70 degrees Celsius will be conducted tomorrow.

Minister of Utilities Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom made it clear that the trial run will not involve the vaccine itself, as it would be substituted by saline water which will be used in its place to see it would be able to be transported at such distances at the required temperatures.

According to him, the trial run will be conducted by the Ministry of Health (MoH), and Belaga is one of the places selected by MoH.

“They want to know whether we can maintain the temperature, sustain it all the way at negative 70 degrees Celsius, from Bintulu Airport all the way to Belaga.

“This is so that when the vaccines are coming, if it (the trial run proves that it) can maintain the temperature, then we will be able to send the vaccines all the way to Belaga,” he said when met by journalists after launching the ministry’s Organisational Anti-Corruption Plan 2021-2025 and e-Utilities System at the LCDA Tower here today.

Dr Rundi pointed out that it will be a three to four hour ride from Bintulu Airport to Belaga.

“There will be a container containing saline water that will act as a substitute to the vaccine for the trial run, which then they would know under similar conditions about whether it will be able to reach there safely.”

He said the Pfizer vaccines will arrive in the country only next month, with one million doses expected to be supplied throughout the country.

“Belaga is not the only place, slowly there will be more. For Belaga, it will be the first to test the sustainability of the temperature.”

To a question, Dr Rundi said only vaccines provided by Pfizer-BioNTech needed to be kept at negative 70 degrees Celsius and those provided by China required only room temperature to be stored.

He said Malaysia is ordering vaccines from not just Pfizer-BioNTech, but also other pharmaceutical companies.

“We are getting from not just Pfizer-BioNTech, there are six different companies. You don’t need to worry about different vaccines having different effectiveness.

“The bottom line is that they are able to develop antibodies. It’s just that companies have their own ways of manufacturing it (vaccines),” he added.

Once the vaccines arrive in the state, Dr Rundi said they would be prioritised for frontliners such as health and police personnel.

The six companies that Malaysia will be obtaining Covid-19 vaccines from are Pfizer-BioNTech, COVAX, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya.

 

 

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