December 8, 2020: Since the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that a Covid-19 vaccine would be made available in the coming weeks, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has now expedited the process to identify cold storage facilities for the vaccine to be stored.
The corporation is also exploring the possibilities of the Serum Institute’s vaccine being approved with the civic body only managing the supply chain.
The PMC is now planning to identify cold storage units for the Covid-19 vaccine.
Additional commissioner Rubal Agarwal said, “This is at a very preliminary stage as the vaccine is not yet finalised. However, we have started talking to agencies who existing storage facilities, as building a new one will be too expensive. We have also spoken to consultants who have informed us that the maintenance cost of such cold storage facilities is also high. We have spoken to three such agencies which have cold storage facilities. Renting the space would be an easier option for us. The rentals are based on per square foot and so the number of doses and the packaging size would also be a factor in deciding the cost.”
Further Agarwal said, “It also depends on which vaccine is being approved. If the vaccine comes from Pune then we might not even need a storage facility we will just have to manage the cold chain supply. If it is a UK or the Hyderabad vaccine then we will have to find a cold storage facility. However, these are very preliminary discussions and we are yet to make any decision.”
Pune will also be the central point for Pune division which includes the districts of Solapur, Satara, Kolhapur and also Ahmednagar. Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao said, “We will have about 34 storage facilities, the only for the city will be managed by PMC while for the rest of the district and also for the division storage units would be at Pune.”
Source: Hindustan Times
