HCMC – The Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology today, October 12, received 77 ultra-low temperature freezers for vaccine storage donated by the U.S. Department of Defense.

At the handover ceremony, Christopher Klein, Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, said the United States would present 400,000 more Covid-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam in the coming days, raising the former’s total vaccine donations to the latter to over 9.5 million doses, Tien Phong newspaper reported. The 77 ultra-low temperature freezers were part of the 111 ultra-low temperature freezers worth US$1 million that the U.S. Department of Defense had promised to donate to Vietnam. These freezers offer an operational temperature of minus 90 to minus 40 degrees Celsius to store vaccines, such as the batches of 3.1 million doses that the United States has shipped to Vietnam since October 2. The 77 ultra-low temperature freezers will be sent to central vaccine warehouses and localities. According to the Ministry of Health, the United States’ support is meaningful and timely as Vietnam will receive additional Covid-19 vaccines which need to be stored at temperatures of minus 90 to minus 60 degrees Celsius. To date, the United States has donated 9.1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam.