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Home»Air Cargo»The Advent of a New COVID-19 Vaccine: How Will Air Cargo Handle It?
Air Cargo

The Advent of a New COVID-19 Vaccine: How Will Air Cargo Handle It?

The challenge of world-wide distribution is over-whelming
Joseph AlbaBy Joseph AlbaAugust 20, 2020No Comments3 Mins Read
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AirBridgeCargo Airlines Delivers 41RKN CSafe Containers as Part of its Prer for Covid-19 Vaccine Transportation
Recently, Air BridgeCargo Airlines may have debuted a method that the CODIV-19 vaccines could use as a model by successfully transporting a shipment of yellow fever vaccinations from Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport in Russia to Frankfurt in Germany.

The date is unknown, but many believe the arrival of the new vaccines will be this coming winter. That is the announcement of the vaccine developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And with it comes the challenge of distribution from the manufacturer to our health care facilities.

Both the United States and Russia are on the brink of announcing the introduction dates of their products and experts are warning of logistical challenges for distribution, both in the United States and world-wide.

The actual transportation of huge dosages of the vaccine is only one challenge; there is also consideration for temporary cold-storage facilities to house the vaccines. To some, the complete job is the arrival of a freighter at the main cities loaded with vaccines. This ignores the primary challenge; that is local distribution. In developing countries, local distribution is not overland, air or water are the only alternatives. 

AirBridgeCargo Airlines deepens its vaccine expertise with transportation of UNICEF shipment

In addition, many third world countries do not have the facilities to provide storage. Does this mean that these countries have to supply temporary mobile cold storage facilities? These aspects of the safe usage of the vaccine become more of a challenge; local authorities must work with the transporting agencies and provide resources to ensure the vaccines have proper storage and reach the outlying regions.  

The International Air Cargo Association (Tiaca) and Pharma.Aero formed a working group to develop global guidance and enable optimal transport of a vaccine. “As pharmaceutical companies race to develop the Covid-19 vaccine, it is still unclear what impact this will have on the global supply chain, specifically, logistics requirements and the air cargo industry,” the group noted.

The two associations are bringing together pharmaceutical manufacturers and logistics players to provide the industry with “more clarity” of the demands and expectations of vaccine supply chains, including requirements for quality control, critical trade-lanes, air cargo capacity, handling and storage and track and trace.

Neel Jones Shah, TIACA board member and global head of airfreight at Flexport, said: “Covid-19 vaccine delivery will be one of the biggest logistical challenges in modern history. No one company can own the end-to-end vaccine supply chain and we need to start working together to ensure the industry is prepared.”

Pete Mento, managing director global customs and duties at Crowe LLP, said: “It will likely cause incredible disruptions to every phase of global transport infrastructure as it strains capacity. This is going to make an iPhone release during a holiday rush seem like a tea party,” he said on LinkedIn.

Frederic Gomer, partner at B2G Consulting in Singapore said a single Boeing 777 freighter, or Airbus A340/A350, could carry a million vaccine doses, and added: “So it will require around 12,000 freighters to supply three-quarters of the global population. 

“Most 3PLs have moved substantial volumes of PPE recently by air cargo, but vaccines are another level altogether.”

He added that a large number of shippers were “still behind”, with outdated technology, especially when moving fragile products in huge quantities.

“Product launches are always a headache, so let’s imagine for a second what the pharma industry will have to endure with the biggest ‘launch’ in history,” he said.

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Joseph Alba
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Mr. Alba was previously Editor of the Airport Press for 12 years covering both local as well as global aviation news. Prior to this, Mr. Alba had Executive positions in Systems Engineering and Marketing with IBM World Trade, and had foreign assignments in the Far East and Latin America earning three Outstanding Achievement Awards. Mr. Alba also directed a new function dealing with Alternate Fuels for Public Service Electric & Gas company in New Jersey and founded a Natural Gas Vehicle Consortium consisting of car company executives and fleet owners, and NGV suppliers in New Jersey. Mr. Alba was a founding partner of ATA, an IT Consulting company which is still active in Central and South America. After leaving the armed forces, Mr. Alba’s initial employee was the U.S. Defense Department as an analyst.

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