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An employee of fridge manufacturer Kanou Reiki checks deep freezers which will be used to store COVID-19 coronavirus vaccines, at the company s warehouse in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI
Jiji Jan 28, 2021
Japanese companies are ramping up production and delivery of ultra-cold freezers to store COVID-19 vaccines as the country is set to start vaccinations in late February, beginning with medical workers.
Kanou Reiki, based in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, sells freezers that can store items at temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius. U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine needs to be stored at minus 70 C.
By Tim Kelly and Rocky Swift
TOKYO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Japan s vaccination roll-out faces logistical hurdles that could further delay the slow-moving campaign, experts and officials say, complicating plans to deliver widescale coronavirus inoculations in time for the Olympics.
Already the last major industrial country to start mass vaccinations, Japan is likely to be hampered on the ground by a lack of containers and dry ice and difficulties in recruiting medical staff, more than a dozen people involved in the inoculation drive told Reuters.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said vaccines are critical to holding a successful Olympics after last year s delay. The first shots for medical workers are planned at the end of February, leaving just 145 days until the start of the Games on July 23.
Dry ice, containers and overworked doctors: the hurdles for Japan s vaccine roll-out Reuters 1/27/2021
By Tim Kelly and Rocky Swift
TOKYO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Japan s vaccination roll-out faces logistical hurdles that could further delay the slow-moving campaign, experts and officials say, complicating plans to deliver widescale coronavirus inoculations in time for the Olympics.
Already the last major industrial country to start mass vaccinations, Japan is likely to be hampered on the ground by a lack of containers and dry ice and difficulties in recruiting medical staff, more than a dozen people involved in the inoculation drive told Reuters.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said vaccines are critical to holding a successful Olympics after last year s delay. The first shots for medical workers are planned at the end of February, leaving just 145 days until the start of the Games on July 23.
Japan's vaccination roll-out faces logistical hurdles that could further delay the slow-moving campaign, experts and officials say, complicating plans to deliver wide-scale coronavirus inoculations in time for the Olympics.
Already the last major industrial country to start mass vaccinations, Japan is likely to be hampered by a lack of equipment and difficulties in recruiting medical workers.