TOKYO, Dec. 10 (CNA) - Japan will buy 10,500 deep freezers to store novel coronavirus vaccines and is considering purchasing dry ice in bulk as it prepares to protect its population from the virus, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday (Dec 10).

Japan has agreements to buy a total of 290 million doses of the vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna, or enough for 145 million people if everyone gets two shots as required.

Pfizer's vaccines need to be kept at around minus 75 degrees Celsius, and Moderna's at about minus 20 degrees Celsius, posing logistics problems.

Pfizer, as well as Moderna and its domestic partner Takeda Pharmaceutical, plan to build networks to keep vaccines at the appropriate temperature as they are distributed to where they will be deployed, the ministry said in a statement.