PATNA: The Government of Bihar on Monday received the first tranche of the 'cold chain equipment' (CCE), procured by UNICEF as part of the Government of Japan's assistance for the COVID-19 vaccination drive across India. The first tranche comprises around 20000 vaccine carriers and it was received by health minister Mangal Pandey.
Upon receiving the first tranche of the vaccine carriers from Yasumasa Kimura, the deputy representative of UNICEF India, Pandey said, "We are grateful to the Government of Japan for coming forward to support Bihar with Cold Chain Equipment through UNICEF. The Government of Bihar is committed to fighting Covid-19 and making all efforts to meet the target of 60 million vaccination in 6 months."
Suzuki Satoshi, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Government of Japan to India and Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, the UNICEF India Representative, virtually joined the event of symbolical handover of CCEs to Bihar.
Pratyay Amrit, the additional chief secretary of health department of state government and Nafisa Binte Shafique, the chief, UNICEF Bihar, along with senior officials from the department of health and family welfare and UNICEF, graced the occasion.
Abhishek Anand, state consultant, Media Partnership for Child rights, Unicef Bihar, said that the Bihar government will receive 100000 freeze-free vaccine carriers, two walk-in coolers, three walk-in freezers, 20 cold chain equipment repair and maintenance toolkits and 2100 freeze tags – the vaccine Freeze Prevention Monitoring device as part of the overall 9.3 million US dollars assistance, announced by the Government of Japan to support India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Satoshi Suzuki, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to India, said, "I would like to express my sincere hope that our joint efforts in the healthcare sector will help overcome the devastating impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and will serve to elevate our relationship to even greater heights."
Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF India Representative said, "The generous support from the Government of Japan to India through UNICEF comes at the right time when the country is moving rapidly towards vaccinating its population, especially the most vulnerable, against COVID-19. With more than 81 crore doses already administered across India, the COVID-19 vaccination will help in restoring normalcy and safe resumption of critical services in the country."