Japan gives Philippines’ COVID-19 vax program ‘last mile’ boost

The government of Japan turned over to the Department of Health (DOH) on Friday 198 million yen or about P80 million worth of “last mile support” consisting of cold-chain logistics equipment intended to help boost the vaccination efforts against COVID-19.

The package, given through through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), includes two service vehicles and two refrigerated vans, which the DOH can use to reach out to remote areas, as well as 600 units of biothermal packaging or reusable iceless containers for the safe storage of vaccines.

“This is a clear testament to the genuine goodwill of the people of Japan,” JICA’s chief representative in the Philippines Takema Sakamoto said in a statement, referring to this latest aid.

“When people are safe from the virus and the supply chains are operating, we all benefit from it in the longer term,” Sakamoto added.

He said this cooperation between the countries was timely as the Philippines took steps to achieve its vaccination targets, particularly to the underserved priority groups—such as people in hard-to-reach communities—so that they can “restart new normal lives and economic activities.”

According to JICA, its “Last One Mile Support” initiative is being implemented with “unprecedented speed” as it usually takes a year for partnerships of this kind to prosper.

The Japanese agency said the support to COVID-19 response and recovery had been met with urgency and approved in a matter of months.

In addition to the cold chain equipment that was turned over to the DOH, JICA is preparing another cold-chain package worth 687 million yen or P275 million through a grant aid project.

JICA has been helping with the Philippines’ COVID-19 response efforts since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.

Over the past three years, JICA provided P80 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, San Lazaro Hospital, Philippine General Hospital, Eastern Visayas Medical Center, and treatment and rehabilitation centers across the country.

Also, JICA has provided trainings on telemedicine to Filipino doctors and frontliners to increase hospitals’ capacity to give intensive care services.

More recently, JICA has just started new technical cooperation to strengthen laboratories’ capacity for Infectious disease control.

During the pandemic, JICA made available 40 billion yen (about P16 billion) as post-disaster standby loan as well as 80 billion yen (P32 billion) as crisis response emergency support loan. INQ