Ministry’s cold chain capacity for COVID vaccine gets shot in the arm
UNICEF’s Representative Nicolas Pron yesterday handed over two solar fridges and 50 vaccine carriers to Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony which will aid Guyana’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Provision of the equipment followed a request from the Health Ministry, according to a release from UNICEF.
While the donation is in support of the ministry’s Expanded Programme of Immunization, its immediate impact would be in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine which has to be stored at a specific temperature.
The release said that the solar fridges will be deployed to regions Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Eight (PotaroSiparuni) and the vaccine carriers will be distributed to all administrative regions.
The fridges and vaccine carriers are “primarily for the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Pron “but they are also for the sustainability of the Expanded Programme of Immunization”.
The solar direct drive fridges each have a 99-litre storage capacity. The release said that Solar Direct Drive refrigeration systems are a new generation of equipment and do not require a battery to store energy. The vaccine carriers, meanwhile, can keep vaccines at the correct temperature for over 40 hours while travelling.
Anthony said that the donation is timely and that the ministry will be able to utilize the equipment to administer the vaccine. Anthony further explained that Guyana’s National COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce is examining the options for vaccines and preparations are ongoing to prepare for the rollout of the programme. Anthony also added that UNICEF has been an integral partner in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The work that you have funded here and have done here is already helping us to make sure that we respond more appropriately to COVID-19 in Guyana,” said Anthony.
The release said that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF has partnered with national authorities on initiatives including surveys to understand the situation, monitor the behaviour change continuum, communication and public awareness campaigns, provision of Personal Protection Equipment kits for frontline workers, as well as support to ensure that services for children continue.