Lufthansa, one of the world’s largest freight carriers, began planning in April in anticipation of the opportunities that Pfizer Inc. to Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc are developing in record time. A 20-member task force is working to devise how to fit more crucial payload on the airline’s 15 Boeing Co 777 and MD-11 freighters, along with hold space on a vast passenger fleet now flying at just 25. % of its capacity.
“The question is how do we scale it up,” said Thorsten Braun, who leads Lufthansa’s part of the global effort.
Abandoned by a Covid-19 outbreak that has decimated passenger demand, airlines will be the workhorses of the attempt to eradicate it, transporting billions of vials to every corner of the world. It’s an unprecedented task, made more difficult by the declining status of carriers after sacrificing jobs, routes and planes to survive a crisis that has reduced air traffic globally by an estimated 61% this year.
“This will be the largest and most complex logistics exercise ever conducted,” said Alexandre de Juniac, executive director of the International Air Transport Association, the industry’s leading lobby. “The world is counting on us.”
IATA estimates that the equivalent of 8,000 loads will be needed on a 110-ton capacity Boeing 747 freighter for the airlift, which will take two years to deliver some 14 billion doses, or nearly two for every man, woman and child on Earth. . It’s a difficult task, given that roughly a third of the world’s passenger fleet is still in storage, according to Cirium data.
Katherine O’Brien, chief of immunization for the World Health Organization, compares the task of distributing vaccines after a months-long development sprint to the summit of Mount Everest after arriving at base camp.
“The climb to the top is really about delivering the vaccines,” he said Nov. 16.
Here are some of the biggest challenges along the way:
Loading capacity
There are around 2,000 dedicated freighters in use, carrying roughly half of all goods transported by air. The rest usually go to the belly of the world’s 22,000 scheduled passenger planes.
While the freighters are full, air cargo volume has plummeted this year because much of the cargo capacity is idle. Airlines have recruited some 2,500 passenger jets in exclusive cargo roles, but the job of distributing the vaccine would be easier if fleets flew regular frequencies to their usual destinations.
At least in the beginning, space will be limited. The massive venture is expected to start at a peak time for freight carriers, just as the online Christmas shopping frenzy, fueled this year by Covid-19, reaches its zenith.
Pfizer plans to ship 1.3 billion doses of its vaccine by the end of next year, and Moderna will produce about 500 million. AstraZeneca has a manufacturing capacity of 2 billion doses, half of those destined for low- and middle-income countries.
“What we have to do is very quickly help the world to its feet,” said Dennis Lister, vice president of cargo for Emirates, the world’s largest long-haul carrier. “Part of that is making sure we get vaccinations on airplanes. To the people who need it, so people can fly again.”
To allow more airliners to return to service, governments should open up travel, says Glyn Hughes, IATA’s global cargo chief, with a familiar industry refrain.
Deep freeze
The Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine adds an extra layer of difficulty. It must be transported at minus 70 degrees Celsius, colder than winter in Antarctica, and the companies plan to use thermal sensors with GPS to track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment.
Upon arrival, the vaccine can be stored in ultra-low temperature freezers (which are commercially available and can extend the shelf life of the vaccine up to six months), or in a refrigerator in a hospital for five days at 2 to 8 degrees. Celsius, or in a special Pfizer thermal charger, in which the doses will arrive. It can be used as a temporary storage unit by filling with dry ice for up to 15 days. Once thawed, the vials cannot be refrozen.
The choreography will be delicate, with controls from the factory to the clinic and everything in between. Virtually no aircraft is capable of keeping items this cold. Instead, airlines will rely on specialized containers from Pfizer to cool the drug.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. has begun flights to prepare Pfizer’s vaccine for distribution if it receives regulatory approval, a person familiar with the matter said. The drug company and airline declined to comment on the flights, which were previously reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. are among other airlines that said they are prepared to handle shipments of the Pfizer drug. American has temperature controlled containers and shipments prepackaged with cold packs or dry ice.
Delta recently approved the use of Opticooler RAP climate control containers from DoKaSch GmbH. It also increased the permitted levels of dry ice, which is considered a “dangerous good,” according to IATA, meaning that only about 50% of the warehouse space can normally be filled with vaccine shipments packaged in this way.
“While distribution needs continue to evolve, a team approach will ensure there will be enough air cargo capacity to handle demand,” Vittal Shetty, Delta’s director of innovation and delivery-airport and cargo excellence.
United began operating charter flights on Friday to prepare doses of Pfizer’s vaccine for rapid distribution, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited people familiar with the matter.
Storage
Despite the obstacles, a well-established global pharmaceutical distribution network should accelerate the dose flow. Cities ranging from Miami, Dallas, and London to Liege in Belgium, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, and Incheon in Seoul have well-established deep freeze capabilities.
United Parcel Service Inc. has built facilities in Louisville, Kentucky and the Netherlands with a total of 600 freezers that can each hold 48,000 vials of vaccine at temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius.
FedEx Corp. has added freezers and refrigerated trucks to its already extensive cold chain network, and Richard Smith, who is leading the vaccine distribution company’s effort, has pledged to free up as much air and ground capacity as needed.
The distribution companies are experienced in transporting influenza vaccines and medical samples at low temperatures. And both UPS and FedEx mobilized earlier this year to ship tons of necessary medical supplies to the US when shortages were acute. Since then, they have been coordinating with vaccine manufacturers and government officials to prepare for the launch of the vaccine.
“We are waiting until they tell us they have a vaccine ready and that we will be ready to go out and deliver it to all zip codes in the US,” Smith said. “We will be ready to deliver it across the country. World as well.”
Reaching out to the poor
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency, Unicef, has been recruiting airlines for its vast effort to distribute the vaccine to more than 170 countries.
While transporting roads from their point of manufacture to a major hospital or clinic in a large, developed city is one thing, the challenge is compounded in emerging nations, where the infrastructure of remote villages and towns can be precarious and poor. reliable, or even non-existent. .
UNICEF made a call in November with around 40 carriers to make plans for the global airlift to 92 of the world’s poorest nations, for which it is leading efforts to purchase and distribute Covid vaccines. With 80 other higher-income countries choosing it for the vaccines they will buy, the agency’s effort will cover 70% of the world’s population.
PT Garuda Indonesia was certified last month to transport vaccines through a country that has the largest outbreak in Southeast Asia with more than 520,000 confirmed cases. The nation also presents one of the most difficult logistical challenges, with a population of some 273 million spread across the world’s largest archipelago.
Meanwhile, Singapore, a close neighbor to some of Asia’s poorer nations, should be able to target a disproportionate share of traffic, according to Alex Hungate, chief executive of ground services giant SATS Ltd. Singapore Airlines’ former unit is IATA CEIV Pharma is certified in Singapore, Beijing and Bangalore and is in the process of receiving designation in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, he said.
The last mile
Delivery won’t be just about airlines. Cars, buses, trucks, even motorcycles, bicycles, and donkeys may be required to bring the vaccine to rural areas. In some places, it may be necessary to carry you on foot.
“There just aren’t any freezers everywhere,” said Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. It is linked to five developers, producing 40 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine so far.The company aims to start manufacturing competitor Novavax Inc. soon.
“These frozen vaccines, which are very unstable, the developers have to work on stabilization,” Poonawalla said.
The possibility of tampering, producing counterfeit shots and even attempts to disrupt distribution are also of concern, according to IATA. Pharmaceutical companies have responded by requesting end-to-end security escorts, according to Dominic Kennedy, managing director of cargo at Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.
De Juniac, the head of IATA, insists the industry is ready. “We will not disappoint,” he said.
This story has been published from a news agency feed with no changes to the text. Only the title has been changed.
.
