200 vaccine refrigerators, funded by the Government of Japan and procured through UNICEF, arrive in Hải Phòng City. — Photo Courtesy of UNICEF

HÀ NỘI — 300 vaccine refrigerators funded by Japan and procured by UNICEF have arrived in the country as support for Việt Nam's vaccination efforts, UNICEF announced on Friday.

The refrigerators, 200 of which landed in Hải Phòng City Port today and 100 in HCM City Port in September, will be delivered to 300 provincial and district health facilities in Việt Nam, where they will be used to store COVID-19 vaccines.

The delivery is a part of UNICEF’s ongoing efforts to improve cold chain systems in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The Government of Japan is a long-time partner and supporter of UNICEF Việt Nam.

“This support is aimed at delivering vaccines to each and every person in all corners of Việt Nam, which will complement the efforts of the COVAX Facility. Japan will continue to support Vietnamese efforts to deploy vaccines to every person in the country with a view to containing COVID-19 as quickly as possible”, said Takio Yamada, the Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam.

UNICEF has worked with the Ministry of Health to assess 'cold chain' capacity to ensure the safe and efficient transport and storage of vaccines. 

“This support from the Government of Japan will help ensure cold chain capacity, which is crucial for the safe rollout of COVID-19 vaccination and routine immunization”, said Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative.

“We are delighted to work with the Government of Japan on this important activity”

The refrigerators are the specially designed Vaccine Refrigerator TCW 80 AC, manufactured by B Medical in Luxembourg, and have a storage capacity of 80.5l. Utilising green technology for very low power consumption and environmental sustainability, these refrigerators can maintain temperatures of 2˚C to 8˚C, even in the event of a 72-hour power failure.

All of the COVID-19 vaccines currently administered in Việt Nam are required to be stored within this temperature range.

The TCW 80 AC refrigerator is equipped with a remote temperature monitoring device, allowing continuous monitoring of temperature-sensitive vaccines. In case of a temperature deviation, an alert is sent. The temperature status can also be monitored from a distance through an online web portal. Also included in the delivery is one set of spare parts for every ten refrigerators. — VNS

The delivery is a part of UNICEF’s ongoing efforts to improve cold chain systems in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. — Photo Courtesy of UNICEF