To prepare for its coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine procurement program, the city government here has rented a cold storage facility that can store the medicines once these arrive, the Bicol Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) said.

City Mayor Noel Rosal, City IATF chairman, in an interview on Monday said they have partnered with the Glacier Liberty Refrigeration Services Corp., to use their cold storage facility in Barangay Bonot here.

Rosal, together with other officials and media practitioners, conducted an ocular inspection of the storage facility.

The refrigeration units operated by owner Marlon Goyena can store 10 million doses of vaccines at a maximum cold temperature of minus 25 degrees Celsius.

Rosal said except for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine that requires a minus 70 degrees Celsius cold storage capacity, all other vaccine brands manufactured by AstraZeneca, Covovac, Sinopharm, Gamaleya-Sputnik, and Sinovac could be stored in this facility.

The mayor said the partnership would be formalized with a signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties.

Under the agreement, the city government would pay PHP85 to PHP90 a pallet per day for the refrigeration and storage services.

In an earlier interview, Rosal said the city government had earmarked a PHP200-million fund for the purchase of 150,000 vaccines. The city has a 200,000 registered population.

Meanwhile, the City IATF would also launch the use of the quick response (QR) codes in preparation for the upcoming mass vaccination procedure in the 70 villages.

Jesus Chito Baldo, the QR program director, said QR codes could be used in gathering pieces of information relevant to the Covid-19 health status of an individual, including the vaccination program, whether the individual wishes to be vaccinated or not.

Baldo said the QR code processing unit would be manned by IT (Information Technology) programmers and health specialists.

He said city residents who wish to register and get QR codes can apply via their cellular phones and email address at the city’s on-line platform. (PNA)

Photo Credit: www.pia.gov.ph