LABUAN: The Labuan Health Department is gearing up for the Covid-19 vaccination exercise in the duty-free island, expected to commence late February, with the ultra-cool freezers to store the vaccines due to arrive here within the next two weeks.
Its director Dr Ismuni Bohari said a Covid-19 Immunisation Operations Room, with hotline numbers, had been established to cater for the anticipated demand.
“We are preparing for the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines, following the Federal Government’s approval, with a number of preparations being sorted out before commencing the vaccination exercise end of next month,” he said at the federal territory’s Covid-19 Vaccine Exercise and Common Assessment Centre Briefing to the media and stakeholders that was held virtually here today.
He said his department’s procurement unit had placed orders for ultra-low temperature freezers (ULTF) and top loading refrigerators (TLD) to store two types of vaccines, namely mRNA and Viral vector vaccines.
Dr Ismuni said the two types of vaccines have different storage requirements as the mRNA produced by the Pfizer/BioNTech must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius while the Viral vector type from Moderna needs to be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Labuan has recorded 1,980 cases as of today and 110 active cases are currently being handled at the Labuan Hospital. — Bernama
