US Air Force to transport 77 vaccine freezers to Vietnam

The 36th Contracting Squadron at Andersen Air Force Base in the US territory of Guam are poised to send a total of 77 ultra-low temperature freezers at a total value of US$691,000 to Vietnam.

77 ultra-low temperature freezers will be transported to Vietnam by the 36th Contracting Squadron of the US.

This is part of the joint effort to partner with the Vietnamese Government in the fight against COVID-19.

The purchase of these freezers fulfills an official request made by the Vietnamese Government and the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to the US ahead of their acquisition of 31 million Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccines which are set to arrive in the nation by August 30.

According to the website of the Air Force, the assistance will provide one unit to each of 63 Vietnamese localities, along with 14 larger units which can be used at a national level for COVID-19 vaccine storage.

“This acquisition shows the commitment of the US to the health and safety of Vietnamese by providing humanitarian relief to them during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Staff Sgt. Christian Luevano, 36th Contracting Squadron contracting officer, said on the website.

According to Sgt. Luevano, similar purchases typically take between 45 and 120 days to fully co-ordinate and process. However, he and his team have worked several late nights and weekends in order to to get the contract finalised in just under two weeks.

He added that the main challenge for the team was the shortened timeframe and co-ordination due to all parties being in different time zones.