Vice President Raquel Peña announced the country will be purchasing 7.9 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine (BNT162b2). Public Health Minister Plutarco Arias signed the agreement on behalf of the Dominican government. Vice President Peña presides the Health Cabinet in the Abinader administration.
The vaccines will be available in the second quarter of the year. The Drugs, Food & Health Products Agency (Digemaps) and Congress have yet to authorize the purchase.
So far, the Program of Essential Medicines and Logistic Support Central (Promese/Cal) has identified eight ultra-freezers that are suitable for the storage of the Pfizer vaccines. These have capacity to store up to 400,000 doses at the between -80°C and -60°C requirement.
The Abinader administration has already contracted to purchase 10 million doses of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The Oxford vaccine can be stored in normal refrigeration units.
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Presidency
17 January 2021