Manila wants steady power supply for vaccines

Andres said Mayor Domagoso is requesting for a ‘no power interruption’ operation at the storage facility, especially once the vaccines arrive

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso is seeking assurance from Meralco that it would be able to provide steady power supply for the city’s coronavirus vaccine cold storage facility at Sta. Ana Hospital.

This developed as the City of Manila has started coordinating with the power firm of continuous electricity for its newly installed bio-freezers.

The mayor has directed City Engineer Armand Andres to coordinate the discussions, citing the importance of steady electrical supply to sustain the needed temperature to maintain the efficacy of the vaccines.

He assured the Covid-19 vaccine storage facility is capable of accommodating any and all kinds of vaccine that will be available for the city, since it is capable of complying with whatever temperature is required for the serum.

Andres said Mayor Domagoso is requesting for a “no power interruption” operation at the storage facility, especially once the vaccines arrive.

The city engineer said each of the 12 freezer units at the facility have a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) system that would maintain power in the event of a power surge or outage.

It also has a generator set that would also ensure continuous power.

He added the mayor ordered the installation of computers that will be used for monitoring the supply center.

A data logger will also be utilized to maintain the temperature inside the storage units, which will be thoroughly and continuously monitored by computers, sounding an alarm for any change in the set temperature.

“Be it Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sputnik or Johnson & Johnson, any vaccine that can be accessed by the City Government of Manila can be stored properly in our facility,” Domagoso assured.

The facility, located at the seventh floor of Sta. Ana Hospital, under the directorship of Dr. Grace Padilla, occupies 100-square-meters of floor space and has an anti-bacterial vinyl flooring.

PHOTOGRAPH BY AL PADILLA FOR THE DAILY TRIBUNE @tribunephl_al PERSONNEL from the Pasay City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office transfers to the Mall of Asia Quarantine Facility a four-month-old baby diagnosed to have the coronavirus disease. Medical workers believe the child was infected by her 23-year-old mother who was nursing the infant.