LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to procure 120 special refrigerators to store Pfizer and Moderna vaccines since only five districts of the province have the required cold storage facility that meets the standards approved by the World Health Organization, a senior official involved in the province’s vaccination drive told Arab News on Friday.
“We have placed an order for 120 Iceland Refrigerators,” said Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, spokesperson for the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in Punjab. “However, the procurement process can take about two to three months.”
He informed that there were only five “ultracold storage units” for Pfizer and Moderna in major urban centers like Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujranwala etc.
Asked about the vaccine wastage in the province due to insufficient cold storage facilities, he only admitted to “open vial wastage” in which left-over doses are discarded if they are not administered within six hours after the vial is opened.
According to media reports, more than 38,000 doses of vaccine had gone to a waste in Punjab. However, a health department official recently told a local news outlet that the figure summed up the wastage of the last five months which amounted to 0.37 percent of the total supply and was considered normal.
The EPI national program manager, Dr. Akram Shah, also confirmed insufficient number of ultracold storage units in the province.
“There are two types of vaccines in the country which are being administered to people,” he said. “Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino require two to eight degrees Celsius while vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna need minus 18 degrees Celsius.”
He also informed that there were only 15 ultracold storage units in the entire country, three of them in Islamabad, two in Karachi and one each in Swat, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore and Hyderabad.
“We are likely to face similar problem with Sputnik V,” he said. “In fact, the Russian vaccine is unique since it requires minus 18 degrees Celsius right from the time of its manufacturing until it is administration to people.”
Shah confirmed that another batch of 100,000 Sputnik V shots was expected to arrive in Pakistan on July 10.
“Twenty ultracold storage units are also likely to reach the country on July 12,” he added while confirming that they would be installed in the same urban centers which already have the required storage facilities.
The EPI official also attributed the wastage of over 38,000 doses to the same technical reason.
“One vial normally contains 11 to 15 doses of vaccine,” Shah said. “Once it is opened, it needs to be used within six to 12 hours. We cannot make people wait until a sufficiently large crowd gathers at the vaccine center before opening a vial. Therefore, such wastage is a routine matter.”
Punjab to procure special refrigerators for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — health officials
https://arab.news/wyrsp
Punjab to procure special refrigerators for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — health officials
- The country’s most densely populated province lacks enough cold storage facilities that meet the approved standards of the World Health Organization
- A senior Punjab health official says Pakistan will receive a batch of 100,000 Sputnik V vaccines on July 10
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
