PH Navy, PCG have ships with sub-zero freezers to store, transport vaccines

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) have ships with freezers that can store Covid-19 vaccines in sub-zero temperatures, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Monday.

During President Rodrigo Duterte’s weekly national address, Lorenzana said the Navy has four ships with freezers with temperatures ranging from -15 to -25 degrees celsius and has a total capacity of 5 tons.

“P’wede po natin gamitin ito ‘pag magta-transport ng bakuna mula sa Manila sa mga islands dito sa Visayas at saka sa Luzon siguro,” Lorenzana said.

(We can use these transport vaccines from Manila to islands in the Visayas and in Luzon.)

The Coast Guard, meanwhile, has nine ships with freezers with temperatures ranging from -20 to -25 degrees celsius and has a total capacity of 526 cubic feet, which, Lorenzana said, is also “ideal for transport.”

“Ang Armed Forces po ay nasa forefront ng [vaccine] rollout kasi marami tayong hospital ng Army na nagkalat sa buong bansa,” he said.

(The Armed Forces is at the forefront of the vaccine rollout because the Army has many hospitals scattered across the country.)

Military medical personnel will also undergo training in preparation for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, the Defense Secretary added.

“Tinanggap namin ‘yung alok ng GoNegosyo ni Joey Concepcion na bigyan ng pagsasanay o training ‘yung ating military medical personnel para sila ang kasama sa pagbabakuna sa ating mga tao lalung lalo na sa mga probinsya,” he said.

(We accepted the offer of GoNegosyo of Joey Concepcion to train military medical personnel so that they would be the ones to administer vaccines especially in provinces.)

The training is set to begin next week and will end in time for the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines slated in February.

/MUF