Kyrgyz Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliev said that the republic was forced to abandon the purchase of the American vaccine against the Pfizer coronavirus due to financial difficulties, Sputnik Kyrgyzstan reports.
According to him, the country could get the American drug for free. The Global Alliance for Vaccines (COVAX) offered to supply about 1.2 million doses of Pfizer to the country, but the republic still lacked the funds to ensure the conditions for proper storage of the substance. “Pfizer is a good vaccine, but in order to bring it to Kyrgyzstan and deliver it to the population, refrigerators are needed that provide a storage temperature of 70 degrees,” Beishenaliev said.
He noted that in this regard, the authorities sent a letter to the Russian leadership with a request to urgently deliver 500 thousand doses of Sputnik V vaccine to the country. Moscow has already given its consent. “To store the components of this vaccine, a cold chain is needed from minus 2 to minus 18 degrees. We have such refrigerators,” the minister explained.
According to the latest data, more than 83 thousand people have become infected with the coronavirus in Kyrgyzstan, and almost 1400 patients have died. On December 5, the official Bishkek announced that it would open its borders to tourists from all over the world, subject to a certificate of passing a PCR test for infection.