Senator Imee R. Marcos
(IMEE MARCOS FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“We may end up with spoiled meat and spoiled vaccines,” Marcos warned.
She said the National Task Force (NTF) has not yet figured out cold chain logistics for the arrival and delivery of vaccines ‘’and here we are complicating the problem with a plan to triple the minimum access volume (MAV) of pork imports.’’
Marcos, chairwoman of the Senate committee on economic affairs, said that the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines has pegged its operating capacity at 70 percent of its full capacity of 400,000 metric tons.
“Even if cold chain capacity increases by 10 percent to 15 percent or about 40,000 metric tons more according to the government’s roadmap in December, this may not accommodate a tripled MAV of 162,000 metric tons that will spur more pork imports,” Marcos explained.
(Photo by Owen Humphreys / POOL / AFP / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“Sa kasulukuyan po 28 cold chain providers na po ang nakausap at mayroon pa pong limang kinakausap sa kasalukuyan (Currently were have talked to 28 cold chain providers and we are still negotiating with five more),” Deputy Chief Implementer of the National Action Plan Against COVID -19, Secretary Vivencio Dizon said during a Palace press briefing.
Dizon explained that it is important to understand that the COVID-19 vaccines that will arrive will require “very special” facilities.
“Ito po yung tinatawag nilang pharma-grade cold chain facilities or pharma grade cold storage facilities at ito pong mahigit na tatlumpung ito ang pinakamalalaking mga kumpanya na merong ganitong capacity (This is what they call pharma-grade cold chain facilities or pharma-grade cold storage facilities and these 30 or more are the biggest companies who have the facilities),” Dizon said.
BusinessWorld
January 19, 2021 | 8:04 pm
THE GOVERNMENT is in talks with dozens of logistic companies in time for the arrival of coronavirus vaccines in mid-February, an official said on Tuesday.
The state is in âadvanced negotiationsâ with 28 cold chain providers, Vivencio B. Dizon, the countryâs COVID-19 testing czar, told an online news briefing on Tuesday. Itâs also in talks with five other companies.
Among the companies he cited were Orca, Royal Cargo and Zuellig Pharma. Novatus Technologies, Inc., PAL Holdings, Inc., 2GO Group, Inc. and IP Biotech, Inc. had also been tapped for the distribution and storage of COVID-19 vaccines.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan
Pangilinan noted that public clamor was key to allowing local government units (LGUs) to secure their own coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine.
“Buti naman at pwede nang bumili ng bakuna para sa kanilang LGU ang ating mga local executives. Ito ay bunga rin ng pagiging vocal natin, ng mga opisyal ng LGUs, at ng taumbayan mismo sa mga kailangang gawin para mapabilis ang pagsugpo sa Covid,” Pangilinan said. (It is good that LGUs local executives are now allowed to buy vaccines. This is the result of our insistence, along with LGU executives and the people, that they themselves would find ways to hasten the defeat of COVID-19.)
Published January 15, 2021, 6:00 AM
The Philippine government is yet to formally tap the country’s cold chain industry for the handling and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
Anthony Dizon, president of the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines (CCAP), said in a phone interview that the industry is still waiting for the government to accept the industry’s offer to play a role in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine.
Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/ccaphils/
CCAP is a multi-sectoral group of companies involved in the handling, storage, and distribution of chilled and frozen food, among other products.