Zuellig Pharma boosts freezer capacity in anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines arrival

Zuellig Pharma Corp. on Tuesday said it has ordered 10 additional ultra-low freezers to boost its cold chain capacity in the Philippines, in anticipation of the incoming shipments of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.

The additional ultra-cold freezers will be able to store over 7 million doses at temperatures as low as -70° to -80° Celsius which can be ramped up further if needed, on top of the 14 already deployed in the company's network across the country.

"We are honoured and excited to engage with the Philippine government to explore ways in which we can support measures to address this current crisis and help execute the national COVID-19 vaccination programme," Zuellig Pharma Corp. chief executive and area director Maikel Kuijpers said in an emailed statement.

"Over our long history of supplying healthcare products during crises such as world wars, economic crises or natural disasters, we have learned best practices that we believe are applicable to the current COVID-19 pandemic, which I hope we can share," he added.

At present, Zuellig has cold rooms located across various warehouses in Santa Rosa, Laguna; Sun Valley, Parañaque; Cebu; and Davao, which can store up to 629 million vaccine doses in temperatures of 2° to 8° Celsius. It also has walk-in freezers that can store up to 52 million doses at -15° to -25° Celsius.

The Philippines targets to vaccinate some 50 to 70 million Filipinos from COVID-19 this year, with the country allocating some P73.2 billion for the procurement. The amount includes P40 billion coming from multilateral agencies, P20 billion from domestic sources, and P13.2 billion from bilateral agreements.

Only two vaccines have secured the emergency use authority (EUA) so far—Pfizer BioNTech and British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. over the weekend said the Philippines is scheduled to receive some 5.6 million doses of vaccines from the two manufacturers in the first quarter of the year.—AOL, GMA News