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Europe’s leading airlines are among those supporting UNICEF in its landmark project to supply COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and medical devices around the world in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, Air France, KLM, Martinair Cargo and Cargolux are among the ten airlines that have joined the Air Cargo Humanitarian Initiative, which will deliver materials to more than 100 countries.
The initiative supports the COVAX Facility, the largest vaccine procurement and sourcing operation ever undertaken to supply COVID-19 vaccines to each and every country in the world, regardless of wealth.
Co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization, along with its distribution partner UNICEF, COVAX is running to deliver 2 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021. .
“Delivering these life-saving vaccines is a monumental and complex task, given the huge volumes to be transported, the demands of the bloodless chain, the number of deliveries expected and the diversity of routes,” said Etleva Kadilli, UNICEF Director of Supply. Division. We thank those airlines for joining forces with UNICEF’s Air Cargo Humanitarian Initiative for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. “
The French-Dutch airline Air France KLM Martinair Cargo, which has worked with UNICEF on previous immunization programs, will send vaccines and similar supplies, such as syringes and needles, to destinations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
“We consider it our duty as an airline to distribute those vaccines around the world. It’s really about saving human lives,” Marcel Kuijn, global head of pharmaceutical logistics at Air France KLM Martinair Cargo, said in an interview with UNRIC.
The airline has transported millions of vaccine doses to destinations such as Jakarta in Indonesia, Bamako in Mali and Lomé in Togo.
Brussels Airlines, a subsidiary of the German group Lufthansa, is also taking part in the crusade thanks to its extensive network in Africa. It ships vaccines and medical devices to 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and has so far transported 130,000 vaccines to Banjul. , Gambia, Freetown, Sierra Leone and Monrovia, Liberia. Se delivered two batches of sterile and disposable syringes to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
“It is a real honour for Brussels Airlines to contribute to the COVAX initiative (. . . ) We can contribute to the global vaccination campaign, which is an incredibly vital challenge that we all face together,” said Brussels Airlines spokesperson Maaike Andries.
Cargolux, a Luxembourg-based shipping airline that provides shipping solutions for medical shipments, said participating in such projects “is completely in line with the airline’s values. Therefore, it was a natural commitment for us to be part of this project. “Richard Forson, president and CEO of Cargolux, said in a press release.
A KLM plane carries medical items as a component of UNICEF’s Humanitarian Air Cargo Initiative. Photo courtesy of Air France KLM Martinair Cargo
The initial 2 billion vaccine doses delivered under the COVAX initiative are intended for frontline fitness and social workers, as well as vulnerable and high-risk individuals. Shipments are expected to increase as production of COVID-19 vaccines ramps up.
For the airlines involved in the initiative, the distribution of vaccines poses very demanding situations in terms of volume, shipment and safety.
“According to the manufacturer, the other COVID-19 vaccines must be stored and transported at a safe temperature, ranging from -80 degrees Celsius to more than 8 degrees Celsius,” Kuijn explained.
Air France KLM Martinair Cargo’s hubs in Charles de Gaulle, near Paris, and at Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam, are fully equipped with air-conditioned facilities to store all vaccine shipments in transit before they are transported.
According to the COVAX Facility’s Indicative Distribution and Allocation Plan for the First Cycle, 145 countries are expected to obtain doses to vaccinate around 3% of their population in the first part of 2021.
For UN Secretary-General António Guterres, ensuring equivalent access to vaccines around the world is key to defeating the pandemic. ” Vaccine equity is ultimately a human rights issue. . . Vaccines will have to be a global public good, available and affordable to all,” he concluded.
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