Toyota Land Cruiser gets WHO approval for vaccine delivery

A modified Toyota Land Cruiser has become the world’s first vehicle to obtain WHO’s approval for COVID-19 vaccine delivery.

Toyota Motor Corporation in association with Toyota Tsusho and B Medical Systems have introduced a new refrigerated vehicle for COVID-19 vaccine transportation. The vehicle comes in the form of a modified Toyota Land Cruiser and is said to be the world’s first vehicle to obtain WHO-approval.

According to the arrangement between the three companies, Toyota Motor Corp. will provide the base vehicle, a Land Cruiser 78, while B Medical Systems provide the CF850 vaccine refrigerator. Toyota Tsusho Group company ‘CFAO SAS’ and Toyota Group company ‘Toyota Customising & Development Co. Ltd.,’ will be in-charge of the vehicle installation and conversion.

The modified Toyota Land Cruiser 78 as mentioned, is the first vaccine delivery vehicle to comply with the Performance, Quality & Safety (PQS) pre-qualifications’ set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Talking about the CF850 refrigerator, it comes with a total capacity of 396-litres or 400 vaccine packages. The refrigerator has its own independent battery setup, allowing it to operate for up to 16 hours without any external power supply. Charging of these batteries can be done either by the vehicle while driving or by an external power source when parked.

These refrigerated vehicles, allow the vaccine to be stored under optimal temperature (between 2 to 8-degree Celsius) during its transportation. According to WHO, around 20 per cent of the vaccine volume become unusable every year, due to the lack of proper refrigerated transportation.