Ashraf AboArafe
On February 20th, 2022, Mr. OKA Hiroshi, Ambassador Designate of Japan to Egypt signed and exchanged notes with Dr. Fazlul Haque, Deputy Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Egypt Country Office, for a grant assistance of 392 million yen (approximately 3.4 million US dollars) to provide Egypt with cold chain equipment including 15 Japanese refrigerated vehicles for vaccines and related assistance through UNICEF.
The exchange of Notes was witnessed by H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation and H.E. Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Acting Minister of Health and Population.
The current pandemic is a “human security” crisis, posing threats to individuals’ survival, livelihood and dignity, and the global community must work together so that no one is left behind in the fight against the pandemic. Currently, ensuring equitable access to vaccines and accelerating vaccination is the common challenge for the international community.
In this context, Japan provided 700,260 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Japan to Egypt via the COVAX facility, which was the first provision of vaccines from Japan to the African continent in December 2021. In addition, Japan decided to support in facilitating “the last one mile” in the safe and steady delivery of vaccines to Egyptian people by the improvement of cold chain for vaccines. In line with this “Last One Mile Support” program, Japan has already provided 1,000 vaccine carriers, 600 refrigerators, and 833 cold boxes to Egypt.
Today’s new project plans to provide 500 Iced lined refrigerators, 250 vaccine freezers, 1000 cold boxes, and most notably, 15 Japanese refrigerated vehicles for vaccines, the first vehicles in the world that have obtained the WHO’s “Performance, Quality and Safety (PQS)” prequalification. The vehicles will make it possible to deliver vaccines that require strict temperature control to rural and remote areas and will continue to play a significant role in saving many lives for a long time even after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project also aims at training the medical team to safely administer COVID-19 vaccines. It will also promote COVID-19 vaccination and encourage the use of preventive measures through social media platforms, in addition to strengthening the monitoring and reporting systems.
The Government of Japan hopes that this donation will support efforts of the people and the Government of Egypt to defeat COVID-19.
