Ministry of Health and Sports spokesman Dr. Than Naing Soe said that Myanmar had little chance in choosing the COVID-19 vaccines from the list of vaccine candidates developed by international pharmaceutical companies which were in their clinical trial stage in the race for getting approval.

“We don’t have many options. We must take what we will be given. We cannot be in a position for choosing the vaccines we like,” the spokesman said.

“In this situation we must use any vaccine available to us as a priority. We must choose the ones which will be suitable for us. We will have difficulties in storage, distribution and vaccination in far flung areas if we choose the ones which need minus 70 degree Celsius as we don’t have such cold storage chains required in our country but if the vaccine needs just minus 20 degree Celsius we don’t have much difficulty. Minus 2 to 8 degree Celsius storage will be the best for us. As for us, the lower the requirement for cold storage the more appropriate,” Dr. Than Naing Soe told Mizzima.

Myanmar is said to be set for receiving 1.6 million doses or 3% of the population first when the vaccines are available under the AMC-92 programme.

It should be noted that a growing body of world health professionals are questioning the safety and efficacy of a rushed COVID-19 vaccine and asking whether it is necessary given the high survival rate and relatively low death rate from the virus, a death rate similar to seasonal flu. A number of countries appear to be rushing to try to find a vaccine. Vaccines typically take years to be developed and tested and there is controversy over their potential side effects.