Patna, Sep 27 (PTI) In a symbolic handover on Monday, the Bihar government received the first tranche of the cold chain equipment (CCE) procured by UNICEF as part of the Government of Japan assistance to the COVID-19 vaccination drive across India.The first tranche comprises of around 20,000 vaccine carriers.After receiving the vaccine carriers from UNIOCEF India Deputy Representative Yasumasa Kimura, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey said, “We are grateful to the government of Japan for coming forward to support Bihar with Cold Chain Equipment through UNICEF. The Government of Bihar is committed to fight Covid-19 and making all efforts to meet the target of 60 million vaccination in six months”.The CCE will augment the state’s vaccination capacity, both for COVID-19 vaccination as well as routine immunization for children and women, he said. The Bihar government will receive one lakh freeze-free vaccine carriers, two Walk-In Coolers, three Walk-In Freezers, 20 cold chain equipment repair and maintenance toolkits and 2100 Freeze Tags (a vaccine Freeze Prevention Monitoring device) as part of the overall assistance announced by the Government of Japan to support India’s response to COVID-19 pandemic.“I would like to express my sincere hope that our joint efforts in the healthcare sector will help overcome the devastating impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and will serve to elevate our relationship to even greater heights," said Suzuki Satoshi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Government of Japan, to India. PTI PKD NN NN