LA TRINIDAD, Benguet (PIA)–The province of Benguet enhances its COVID -19 vaccination program with the provincial government purchasing an ultra-low temperature freezer for the safe storage of some brands of vaccines like Pfizer.
Governor Melchor Diclas said the new freezer that is capable of storing COVID-19 vaccines that require storage at -70 degrees Celsius is expected to arrive in the province this coming week. It has the capacity to store 10,000 doses or vials of vaccines.
Diclas also bared that the Benguet State University is also lending its ultra-low freezer to the province which will also be used to store vaccines that require storage at -70 degrees Celsius.
The BSU freezer only needs some repairs which will be shouldered by the provincial government.
With these cold storage freezers, Benguet would be able to avail of other COVID-19 vaccines such as Pfizer for its people.
At the moment, the freezers at the Benguet Provincial Health Office are storing Sinovac and Astra Zeneca vaccines being sent to the different towns in the province.
Meanwhile, the governor said the Benguet Provincial Inter Agency Task Force is asking the National IATF and the Department of Health to provide more COVID-19 vaccines for the province.
Diclas said that in the past weeks, more people in the different municipalities have been lining up to be vaccinated. He said there is a need for the national government to provide more vaccines to the provinces for the attainment of herd immunity.
As of June 30, 2021, 26,209 vaccines were allocated to the province with 96.43 percent utilization for the first dose and 52.67% for the second dose. **JDP/ RMC- PIA CAR
