By Ashish Srivastava

New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS): A prominent hospital in south Delhi is ready to store the bulk of Covid vaccines required to inoculate people as per the priority set by the Centre.

The Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (HIMSR) has readied approximately 30 deep refrigerators which could store the variants of vaccine candidates for Covid-19, waiting for emergency use authorisation, its Medical Superintendent, Dr Ajaz Mustafa, told IANS.

Around thirty refrigerators, including two whose temperature could go as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius, are available at the hospital, and can facilitate the current requirement, he said.

"We already stock the vaccines for various diseases and test samples in our pathology laboratory. As far as I'm concerned, our facility can carry the burden of all kinds of vaccines which have applied for emergency authorisation," he said.

Besides, Dr Mustafa claimed that his facility is capable enough to facilitate the Covid immunisation drive further to other hospitals as well.

In anticipation of storing Covid-19 vaccine, Delhi hospitals have started to prepare in full swing to store the Covid vaccines whenever they arrive after regulatory approvals.

Dr B.L. Sherwal, Medical Director, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH), which is doubling up as the largest Covid vaccine storage facility, had told IANS that total of 90 freezers are to come up at the facility, of which many have already arrived and being installed there.

Meanwhile, IANS had reported earlier in the day that the Serum Institute of India's (SII) vaccine candidate, Covishield, has an edge over other vaccines which applied for emergency approval including Pfizer's because of its low cost, effective logistics and easy storage.

Pfizer and BioNTech's mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine requires minus 70 degrees Celsius temperature for long term storage while SII's Covershield, developed from the master seed of Astrazeneca/Oxford University's Covid vaccine- ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019, can be stored in a domestic fridge.

Currently, two vaccine candidates -- Covishield by SII and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech -- have applied before the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization's (CDSCO) for emergency authorisation.