HEALTH & WELFARE

BRINGING THE
COVID-19
VACCINE
TO ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLDAs the world continues to face shortages of COVID-19 vaccines, the Japanese government is actively working todeliver vaccines and contribute to “Last One Mile Support” by building cold chain systems in developing countries
and establishing equitable vaccine access in every corner of the world.
Vaccination on a global scale isessential for the early containmentof COVID-19. Recognizing theurgency of this need, the Japanese
government is conducting various
support measures to accelerate
fair and equitable vaccine accessfor people in all countries andregions.
Key among these measures isthe distribution of vaccines todeveloping countries. Japan has
disbursed 200 million dollars to
the COVID-19 Vaccines Global
Access (COVAX) Facility, aninternational framework for thejoint purchase and rapid andequitable distribution of vaccines
to people in all countries. At
the COVAX AMC Summit,
co-hosted by the Japanese
government in June this year,
Japan announced an additional
sum that would bring its
total contribution to 1 billion
dollars. Furthermore, Japan has
distributed vaccines to countries
and regions in need through suchchannels as COVAX. So far, atotal of 25 million doses havebeen delivered, with plans toprovide up to approximately 60
million doses in total.

Japan has been supporting thedevelopment of the cold chain
system, an effort known as “Last
One Mile Support,” to ensure
the safe delivery of vaccines todeveloping countries. Those
countries often lack suitableinfrastructure for transportingand storing COVID-19 vaccines,
which must be kept at low
temperatures.
In addition to supplying
materials, equipment, and soforth to 57 countries in Asia,the Pacific, Latin America, andAfrica through UNICEF, Japan

also supplies six countries and one
region with grant aid through theJapan International Cooperation
Agency ( JICA).
Bilateral grant aid through
JICA normally takes more thana year to be finalized due to thetime required to work out thedetails of the aid specification. In
this particular case, however, theMinistry of Foreign Affairs andJICA have been able to accelerate
the process, reducing the time tojust four months. KUBOKURAKen, director of the Officefor COVID-19 Response at

Japan has delivered vaccines to developing countries through the COVAX facility. The photo shows
vaccines manufactured in Japan arriving in Sri Lanka.

Vaccine transport boxes developed by Twinbird
Corporation are among the equipment provided by
Japan. Since the boxes can draw power from a car’s
cigarette-lighter socket and are resistant to shaking,they are already being used in Timor-Leste to store
and transport vaccines in areas where the power
supply is unstable. JICA

JICA, says, “I believe that ourlongstanding relationship of trustwith the health and medical sectors
in the partner countries enabled
us to obtain the necessary details
from them within a short timeframe. That is why we were able tostart the cooperation promptly.”
JICA’scooperation
goes
beyond providing materials andequipment, extending to technicalcooperation and human resource
development. For example, awebinar in which a Japanese expert
offered a variety of information on
COVID-19 vaccines was attended
by 494 people from 68 countries.
Also, this past June, JICA supplied
15 high-quality vaccine transport
boxes to the Democratic Republicof Timor-Leste and held training
sessions on the operation andhandling of the equipment. “Weload the boxes onto vehicles
provided by the Government ofJapan. The temperature of theboxes is properly controlled, andthey can be powered from thevehicles, which is beneficial when
we deliver vaccines to remoteareas where there is no electricity,”
a local official commented. “Onbehalf of the people of TimorLeste, we really want to thankJapan for supporting us in thevery difficult time of COVID-19.
Going forward, we will work
closely with Japan to improvehealth care for our people.”

In its fight against COVID-19,
Japan will continue to actively
address the challenges ofdeveloping countries and provide
comprehensive support for thedelivery of vaccines to every
corner of the world.

Toyota Tsusho Corporation has obtained
WHO’s medical equipment Performance,Quality and Safety (PQS) prequalification
for its refrigerated vehicle for vaccines basedon Toyota Motor’s Land Cruiser—a first ofits kind. The top photo shows a vehicle inuse in Ethiopia.