US Air Force ships 77 vaccine freezers to Vietnam
The 36th Contracting Squadron of Andersen Air Force Base on Guam announced that it has just completed a contract worth 691,000 USD to provide Vietnam with 77 deep freezers to preserve Covid-19 vaccines.
According to a press release from the Base, these deep freezers will be distributed to 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam, and 14 larger freezers will be provided to the Ministry of Health to preserve 31 million doses of Pfizer vaccine expected to be delivered to Vietnam on August 30.
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| One of the freezers delivered to Vietnam by the 36th Contracting Squadron to store the Pfizer vaccine. Photo: Andersen Air Force Base |
In the statement, officer Christian Luevano - representative of Contracting Squadron 36 - emphasized: "This demonstrates the US commitment to the health and safety of the Vietnamese people by providing humanitarian relief inCovid-19 pandemic".
According to Mr. Luevano, an equipment transaction of this amount normally takes about 45-120 days to coordinate and process. However, the officer said, his team worked nights and weekends to complete the contract within just two weeks.
“The main challenge for the team was the tight timeline and coordination due to the parties being in different time zones,” said Mr. Luevano.
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| Officer Christian Luevano at Andersen Air Force Base. Photo: Andersen Air Force Base |
Among the partners the 36th Contracting Squadron works closely with is Major Wei Yuan, Chief of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.
"This not only enhances Vietnam's ability to distribute vaccines with special storage requirements, but also demonstrates the US commitment to working with partners around the world to end the economic and public health impacts of this pandemic," Major Wei Yuan affirmed.
