Dry run to send Covid vaccine to remote Belaga a success - deputy minister

 

The Health Ministry successfully conducted a dry run on the delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to the Belaga Health Clinic, about 178km or four-hour drive into the interior from Bintulu.

Deputy Health Minister Aaron Ago Dagang said the success in sending the vaccine to this remote place in Sarawak by road meant that it can be delivered to any place in this country.

However, he said the ministry will assess the whole dry run process to identify any weaknesses and improve it before Malaysia began receiving the actual vaccine from Belgium.

“This dry run is the most crucial initial step before the actual vaccine is received by the Health Ministry to be used at vaccination centres throughout Malaysia.

“As the Pfizer vaccine must be kept in ultra-low temperature freezers at minus 70 degrees Celsius, it was a challenging task for the distribution process to be conducted,” he told reporters after witnessing the dry run yesterday.

The dry run also served as a training exercise for health workers to handle the vaccine in accordance with the Covid-19 Vaccine Handling Guide developed by the Health Ministry.

Kept in thermal shipper, saline-filled bottles were transported from Belgium to Singapore and then to Malaysia before being transported to Kuching and then to Bintulu this morning, before a five-hour journey by road to the Belaga Health Clinic.

The thermal shipper was equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and auto data logging device which enable the United States pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, to monitor the process from its factory town of Puurs, Belgium.

Delivery chain

Aaron said the dry run aimed to test the ability to keep the Comirnaty vaccine at -75 degrees Celsius throughout the delivery chain, starting from the producer's location until it reached the selected medical facility.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba, in a statement, said the ministry would continue to improve the level of public health in an effort to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, including through the procurement of quality, safe and effective vaccines and ensuring the smooth implementation of the national Covid-19 immunisation plan.

“Apart from that, this activity (dry run) will evaluate the feasibility of processes involved in the handling of Covid-19 vaccines and test the implementation of the Covid-19 Vaccine Handling Guide which has been developed in the field to ensure the actual distribution throughout Malaysia later will proceed smoothly,” he added.

- Bernama