The Canadian government this week donated to Cuba 321 refrigerators prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO), intended for the state's vaccination program.

The donation is valued at approximately US$1.3 million and will ensure the cold chain for the storage and distribution of vaccines, as well as promote other components of the vaccination program, the official explained. Pan American Health Organization (OPS).

This delivery is in addition to the 38 computers, delivered previously, which will be used to support the surveillance of events presumed attributed to vaccination or immunization (ESAVI).

“With these previously arrived teams, it is possible to strengthen the capacities linked to such an important activity in all the provinces and the 15 municipalities of the capital,” explained OPS on its web portal.

Carilda Peña García, Deputy Minister of Public Health, said that with this donation, 65% of the equipment coverage that the country needs is achieved.

These refrigerators, approved by WHO, can maintain temperature for about 72 hours without power supply, which is very useful amid the power cuts that the country has been suffering for months. To do this, they use Sure Chill technology, used mainly in African countries.

Alina Pérez Carreras, consultant for immunization issues at the PAHO/WHO Office in Cuba, explained that the country had previously received a donation of 622 prequalified refrigerators, provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

In recent years, Cuba has received 1,032 thermoses for vaccine transfer, 2,020 temperature controllers, 24 freezers and 500 freezing indicators that will support the actions of the National Vaccination Program, from the “Pedro Kourí” Institute of Tropical Medicine and the National Medical Center. Genetic.

After the explosion at the Matanzas supertanker base last year, Canada donated surgical gloves to Cubavalued at $1.12 million, which is the largest aid to this country in history.

A year earlier, in the midst of a wave of coronavirus infections, The Canadian Solidarity Network delivered 1.9 million disposable syringes, which served to immunize the population with vaccines developed by Cuba, because in hospitals and polyclinics there was a deficit of this supply.