PAHO has warned that the region “is not prepared” for …

The deputy director of Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Jarbas Barbosa, warned this Wednesday that the region is “not ready” to manage “messenger RNA” vaccines, such as those from Pfizer, which require storage at very low temperatures.

“No health system in the Caribbean or South America is ready to manage them,” Barbosa explained. However, he did not limit this difficulty to this one region alone, but said the United States and Europe should also prepare if they decide to immunize their population with this class of antidotes.

“Of the ten vaccines in “ phase 3 ”, two use this technology. It is a very new technique which consists in using the genetic material of the virus: messenger RNA. There is no other vaccine in the world that has the same characteristics, and they need storage at minus seventy degrees. Then, all countries that use them should prepare», Assured Barbosa.

As detailed, “the problem with them will not be immunization rooms – as they do not need to be frozen at -70 ° C and can be stored at temperatures between 2 ° C and 8 ° C for a period of time. period of up to five days – but it will be the central warehouses and transport, where it will be necessary to open an investment around the world ”.

Following Barbosa’s statements, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer clarified that it had special preservatives to maintain the cold chain and promised to transfer the doses to each country.

In this sense, the deputy director of PAHO himself stressed: “A few days ago, during a meeting we held, the producer reported that he was developing smaller equipment to maintain temperatures. antidotes during storage and transport.

Finally, Barbosa acknowledged that the other eight vaccines, which are currently at an advanced stage of research, “can be managed with the cold chains that exist today in any country”.