This cold room storage donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) to the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital can store 190,000 vials of vaccines. (Photo by Yolanda Sotelo)
SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan — The Pangasinan Provincial Hospital (PPH) inaugurated on Wednesday the walk-in cold room donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
The room can store 4,920 liters, or 190,000 vials, of vaccines.
Dr. Carla Orozco, Unicef immunization specialist, said the cold room and its equipment came from Covax, a coalition of organizations, including Unicef and the World Health Organization.
Orozco said Pangasinan was one of the nine provinces granted the walk-in cold room and an automatic voltage regulator.
She said Pangasinan was the fastest in installing the facility as it took the province only 21 days to complete the setup, “which is commendable because it shows the commitment of the province for the cold room to be installed and used immediately for vaccination.”
Aside from COVID-19 vaccines, the cold room could also support other routine immunization services “because in the entire world, we belong to the top 10 with the most number of unvaccinated children, or children with not one vaccine,” Orozco said.
Vice Governor Mark Lambino encouraged the PPH to allow other provinces in Ilocos to use the cold room as Pangasinan was the only province in the region with the facility.
Dr. Marie Lynn Fama, PPH officer in charge, thanked Unicef and the Department of Health for the donation, saying it would strengthen the hospital’s vaccine management as a high-quality cold chain is required to ensure the delivery of pure and safe vaccines. INQ
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