Bognor Regis company will play ‘key role’ in coronavirus vaccination efforts

Nick Gibb paid a visit to Polestar Cooling Limited, which is based on the Southern Cross Trading Estate in Bognor Regis, to find out how it was responding to the pandemic.

The company produces about 2000 fridges a year, the vast majority of which are exported to countries in Africa, including Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nigeria and Togo.

Its main customer is UNICEF, which purchases the fridges as part of their mass vaccination programmes, particularly vaccines against measles, which have to be stored at between two and eight degrees centigrade.

Powered by solar panels during the day and with special lining inside to keep them cool at night, the fridges can be used in the most remote parts of the world.

The company also produces about 600 medical fridges a year, some of which have been supplied to the Nightingale Hospitals.

Polestar employs around 25 people in Bognor Regis and has been busy throughout the pandemic.

Mr Gibb said: “The world, including the UK, is pouring vast resources into finding a vaccine against the coronavirus, with scientists at Oxford University and AstraZeneca amongst the most advanced.

“But when the vaccine is ready it will need to be taken to some of the hottest and remotest parts of the world, and refrigeration will be key to storing and transporting those vaccines, which have to be kept at a constant and low temperature to keep the vaccine viable.

“Our own Bognor Regis based company Polestar will be playing a key role in that endeavour as they have with transporting and storing the measles vaccine, working with UNICEF to help eradicate measles.

“It’s comforting to know that businesses here in Bognor Regis will be playing an important part in helping to inoculate the world against this global pandemic.”