Medical personnel removing a box containing the saline water at the Belaga Health Clinic.
SIBU (Jan 29): A box of saline water stored at a low temperature arrived at the Belaga Health Clinic at noon today, completing the Health Ministry’s Covid-19 vaccine delivery dry run programme.
The special cargo had left the Bintulu airport at 8am in a four-wheel drive.
The dry run is crucial in determining if the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is one of the Covid-19 vaccines being acquired by the government, could make the journey at the required negative 75 degrees celsius from its source.
It is not immediately known if the saline water had been successfully kept at the desired temperature throughout the journey.
The result is expected to be announced at a press conference by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang at the Bintulu Hospital tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, Aaron said at the Belaga clinic today that the dry run had been carried out smoothly.
He said Belaga was chosen for the test because it is located in a remote area which was equipped with a health clinic and suitable for the vaccination programme.
“The dry run test is to ensure the ultra-cold negative 75 degree celsius Pfizer vaccine temperature can be maintained during the transportation from the factory in Belgium to Belaga Health Clinic.
“Apart from that, it is also to assess the Covid-19 vaccine handling capability in Malaysia and the feasibility of the Covid-19 Vaccine manual developed by the Health Ministry,” he said.
Aaron said it was a challenge to transport the Pfizer vaccine at the required temperature and therefore the dry run, was also part of the training for the medical personnel who would be it.
A thermal shipper was used to store the saline-filled bottles.
“From here we can learn how the thermal shipper need to be handled, temperature assessment, how the vaccine is transferred into the top loading refrigerator and to return the thermal shipper back to the supplier,” Aaron said.
He believed that the dry run programme would help all parties plan the best approach to ensure high quality, safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines were supplied to all Malaysians including those in rural areas.
Aaron reminded the people that even if they had been vaccinated, they must still comply with the standard operating procedure to fight Covid-19.
The thermal shipper was transported from Belgium on Monday, and arrived in Kuching yesterday before it was delivered by road to Bintulu.
The actual Pfizer vaccines are expected to arrive in the country only next month, with one million doses expected to be supplied throughout the country.
Only the vaccines provided by Pfizer need to be kept at negative 75 degrees celsius, while those provided by China require only room temperature to be stored.
Besides Pfizer, Malaysia is obtaining Covid-19 vaccines from COVAX, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya.