Extreme cold storage a problem for some vaccines -- Roque

People with "colonial mentality" could probably get their hands on the coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer only in the country's major cities with sufficient cold chain capacity, according to a Palace official.

Unlike the Sinovac and Covovax vaccines initially secured by the government, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said vaccines developed by the American pharmaceutical company need to be stored in extremely cold condition or in a minus 70 degrees Celsius facility.

Roque admitted that the country does not have such cold chain capacity outside Metro Manila.

"Ang maganda sa Covovax kasama ng mga Chinese vaccines ay kinakailangan lamang ng 2C to 8C sa standard temperature sa existing cold chain system sa Pilipinas. Yung ibang brand lalong-lalong na Pfizer eh mantakin ninyo negative 70 ang kinakailangan. (The good thing about Covovax and other Chinese vaccines is they only need to be stored between 2 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius, a standard temperate within the existing cold chain system in the Philippines. Other brands like Pfizer would need minus 70 degrees Celsius)," he said during a televised press briefing.

"Sa mayroong colonial mentality na gustong Pfizer, well pwede kayong mag-antay pero ang ating warning po, talagang diyan lang maibibigay sa Pilipinas na major na syudad kasi wala tayong cold chain capacity outside Metro Manila na negative 70 (To those with colonial mentality who want Pfizer, well you can wait, but our warning is it could only be given in major cities in the Philippines since we don't have a cold chain capacity outside Metro Manila with negative 70 degrees Celsius)," he added.

Roque further said:  "Ang freezing po ay zero. Mantakin ninyo negative 70, saan tayo kukuha niyan, (The freezing point is zero. Would you believe it needs minus 70 degrees Celsius facility? Where will get that?)."

In a bid to protect Filipinos from the coronavirus threat, the government has so far secured supplies of Sinovac, Covovax and AstraZeneca vaccines that are expected to be delivered this year.  

An initial 50,000 doses from the 25 million supply from China's Sinovac will arrive in the country next month. 

Around 30 million doses of Covovax vaccines developed by Serum Institute of India in partnership with US firm Novovax, on the other hand, will be shipped to the country starting the third quarter of the year.

The government earlier signed a supply deal of 2.6 million vaccine doses from AstraZeneca which are expected to arrive in July. An additional supply of 20 million doses is reportedly being finalized with the British vaccine maker.

Due to the extreme cold condition needed for the Pfizer vaccines, Roque claimed that some of these vaccines went to waste in the United States.

"Pati sa Amerika na napakadami nilang na-order, nasasayang dahil from the factory to delivery, ay naku hindi nasusunod ang cold chain. (Even in America which ordered many vaccines, these went to waste because from factory to delver, the cold chain is not followed)," he said.

Pfizer is the first foreign vaccine maker to apply for emergency use authorization before the Food and Drug Administration. British pharma firm AstraZeneca recently filed an application for the FDA approval of its vaccines.  The FDA decision on the two applications are expected to be released this month.

Roque said Sinovac has taken preliminary steps to secure EUA from the local regulators for the use of its vaccine in the country. The vaccines acquired by the government will only be administered for free to priority beneficiaries once Sinovac gets a green light from the FDA, he added.