USAID donates vaccine refrigerators to DOH

MANILA, Philippines -  The Department of Health’s vaccination efforts have received a much-needed boost after the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) donated 175 refrigerators to store vaccines.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona said the donations would be used to replace the vaccine refrigerators in DOH’s provincial facilities damaged by tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng” in 2009.

Ona said the refrigerators, 23 of which would be given to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, would help “maximize the potency of vaccines for an effective immunization program.”

“The USAID donation is very much welcome because the DOH’s measles immunization campaign will need proper vaccine storage to minimize wastage,” he added.

Ann Hirschey of the USAID said the donation was in line with the promise of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to donate vaccine refrigerators.

“The USAID move to grant vaccine refrigerators to the Philippines is our response to the disaster recovery needs of Philippine health facilities,” Hirschey said.

Ona assured the USAID that the refrigerators would be distributed and that necessary training would be provided on their operation and maintenance.

At present, the DOH is undertaking door-to-door vaccination against measles and German measles or rubella nationwide to immunize some 18 million children.

The program was originally set from April 4 to May 4 only but the DOH decided to extend it to June 4 to reach some 6.2 million children missed during the first schedule.

In 2007, the DOH was investigated by the defunct Presidential Anti-Graft Commission after 70,384 vials of oral polio vaccines worth P6.5 million got spoiled.

Each of the vials contained 20 doses of vaccines that would have benefited some 470,000 infants.

The spoilage was primarily caused by leakage at the evaporator/expansion valve of the cold chain equipment the Quirino Memorial Medical Center warehouse where the vaccines were kept.