Senegal receives 270 refrigerators for COVID-19 vaccines, donated by Japan to support the country in its race to vaccinate

DAKAR (Senegal), 22^nd December 2021 – Senegal has today received 270 refrigerators to store its COVID-19 vaccines as it strives to vaccinate people against the contagious virus. This essential cold chain equipment was generously donated by the people of Japan and procured by UNICEF. The refrigerators arrived at a timely moment as batches of vaccine continue to arrive in the country to ramp up its vaccination efforts.

"The Government of Japan continues to support Senegal in response to the COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic. To ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, Japan announced at the 2021 Nutrition Summit, held on December 7-8 in Japan, its commitment to provide approximately 10 million vaccine doses to African countries with emergency vaccine needs, in collaboration with partners and international organizations. Japan has also taken the lead in supporting the COVAX facility, a global supply mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines with a total of $1 billion in funding” said HE M. ARAI Tatsuo, Ambassador of Japan to Senegal.

“It is in this context that Japan supports the local production of COVID-19 vaccines at the Institute Pasteur in Dakar via the Comprehensive Japan Trust Fund (CJTF) at Société Financière Internationale (IFC) within the World Bank Group. It is Japan’s effort to support equitable access to vaccines worldwide, including developing countries, to strengthen supply capacity" he added.

Japan’s support, worth a total of $890,000, will help to reinforce Senegal’s cold chain, ensuring safe distribution and delivery of vaccines nationwide. UNICEF will continue providing technical support to the Government of Senegal and to health facility staff to use and manage the cold chain equipment as the vaccination campaign expands.

"The reinforcement of the cold chain will not only help Senegal to continue its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, but it will also have a lasting impact on the country by improving its ability to manage its cold chain for routine immunisation in the long term. This, in turn, will help to reduce outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases and deaths among children” said Bruno Aholoukpe, UNICEF Chief of Child Survival & Development in Senegal.

Since August 2021, the daily number of recorded COVID-19 cases has been steadily falling in the country. By 20 December 2021, Senegal had recorded a total of 74 183 cases of COVID-19, with 1,886 deaths. To date, 1.3 million people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (14.7 per cent of the adult population).

"Despite impressive progress in its vaccination campaign, Senegal requires significant additional vaccine doses to reach more of its population to defeat the virus. It also needs additional support to strengthen the cold chain and to communicate with communities to create a favourable environment for immunisation, build trust and confidence, and ensure application of barrier measures while vaccine roll-out continues. This is of growing importance because as the number of COVID-19 cases has dropped, the demand for vaccination has also declined. Increased messaging on the importance of vaccination is needed to reverse this trend" added Mr Aholoukpe.

As vaccine doses continue to arrive in the country via the COVAX initiative and other channels, the country is now better placed to store the ongoing arrivals and deliver them promptly and safely nationwide.

Thanks to Japan’s support, the reception of the refrigerators has helped to fill gaps in the cold chain and UNICEF is able to continue its technical support to reinforce the cold chain. In total, Japan has donated over $12 million across West and Central Africa to facilitate UNICEF’s efforts to support governments in rolling-out vaccines across the region.

For more information, please contact:

Moussa Diop, Communication Specialist: +221 77 644 33 22, [email protected], UNICEF Senegal

Emna Kayouli, Partnerships Specialist: +221 77 731 34 80, [email protected], UNICEF Senegal

Cissé Mouhamadou, Communication Officer : +221 33 849 55 00 [email protected], Embassy of Japan