In recent months, national immunization programs in 18 countries and territories across the Americas have strengthened their vaccine cold chain systems, ensuring vaccine potency and reinforcing routine immunization. This progress was achieved through technical cooperation from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), with financial support from the Government of Canada. The improved cold chain infrastructure enhances the capacity of countries to deliver vaccines safely and efficiently, reducing wastage and expanding equitable access to immunization.
Canada’s support, channeled through PAHO’s Regional Revolving Funds, provided approximately 1,000 units of cold chain equipment, including temperature-monitoring devices, long-term passive cold boxes and vaccine carriers designed for complex logistics, and ice-lined refrigerators with freeze-protection technology. The 18 participating countries and territories include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Maarten.
Santiago Cornejo, Executive Manager of PAHO’s Regional Revolving Funds, emphasized that the new cold chain equipment helps protect every vaccine dose from arrival to administration, ensuring safety, reducing waste, and supporting equitable vaccine access. The initiative is part of the PAHO-implemented project, “Improving Equitable Access and Coverage of COVID-19 Vaccination in Latin America and the Caribbean,” which seeks to reinforce public health systems and infrastructure across the region.
PAHO’s Regional Revolving Funds provide technical cooperation by enabling pooled procurement of quality vaccines, essential medicines, and public health supplies at affordable prices, with coordinated planning among countries. This collective approach has allowed countries to save an estimated 50 percent on vaccines and other health supplies, benefiting around 180 million people over the last biennium. Over time, the funds have supported timely access to essential health supplies, improved immunization coverage, and contributed to progress in addressing HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and reducing maternal and child mortality across the Americas.
