A group of Chinese scientists have developed a technology that helps store mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 at room temperature for over six months, media reported on Thursday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 26th January, 2023) A group of Chinese scientists have developed a technology that helps store mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 at room temperature for over six months, media reported on Thursday.

Most current mRNA vaccines have to be stored at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) or lower, which significantly reduces their availability, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The technology involves a lyophilization technique, also know as freeze drying, which helps to prepare a freeze-dry lipid nanopartical vaccine that could be then stored at a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius for over six months without any effect on its quality, the news agency said.

Scientists conducted a human trial that showed that a lyophilized mRNA vaccine was as effective as other mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, the report said.

The new technology could enhance accessibility of COVID-19 vaccines in remote areas without affecting their performance, which, in turn, should improve efforts to fight the pandemic, the researchers said.

Earlier in the month, media reported that China had started trial production of a domestically made mRNA vaccine. So far, the two main COVID-19 vaccines used in China are domestically-produced Sinovac and Sinopharm, both inactivated, with no mRNA vaccines available in the country for mass use.