The Quezon City government inaugurated on Sunday, Nov. 7, the new storage facility that will maintain the temperature and extend the shelf life of COVID-19 vaccines and other medicines in the city.

Mayor Joy Belmonte, who led the inauguration in Barangay Paligsahan, said the facility is a valuable investment in the city's public health system.

“This is a manifestation of how important public health is for us. We can say that we have come full circle in addressing this pandemic -- from testing, isolating, vaccinating, and now storing supplies of vaccines for longer shelf life,” Belmonte said.

The project is a 105 square-meter facility that features a medical-grade walk-in freezer with "wall-mounted unit coolers" capable of reaching two to eight degrees celsius and with negative temperature provision to store and maintain the temperature of the different COVID-19 vaccine brands.

It also has a digital temperature control connected to an alarm system for safety, and chest-type freezers to add more storage space for medicines.

The cold room can store 100,000 to 500,000 vials depending on the size, while 20,000 vials can be placed in ultra-low freezers and 10,000 vials in the chest-type freezers.

Aside from storage, the facility will also allow faster transportation of vaccines to different inoculation sites in the city.

Meanwhile, Dr. Esperanza Arias, head of the City Health Department, said that the project will help the local government as it continues to administer COVID-19 vaccines to the residents.

“Moving forward, this will help the city health prepare for any future emergencies or disasters due to emerging and re-emerging diseases with outbreak potential. So it is really an addition to the improving system of public health in QC,” Arias said.

The local government is currently in partnership with Zuellig Pharma for the storage and logistics of the vaccines.

Some of the COVID-19 vaccine supplies are expected to be transferred to the facility by the end of November.