PremiumOver 200,000 movements by pallet shippers on as many as 15,000 flights may be required to ensure global coverage of coronavirus vaccines over the next two years, logistics major DHL said in a whitepaper on Thursday.
"Given the urgency of the pandemic, vaccines will likely be transported via air freight for longer distances," said the white paper titled 'Revisiting Pandemic Resilience'.
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Premium Premium "In downstream distribution, accommodating the stringent temperature requirements will be even more challenging," it added.
There have been 164,409,804 confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide, as of 20 May, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). Meanwhile, over three million people have died as a result of the infection across the world.
However, the long-term goal of achieving widespread access to Covid-19 vaccines faces several obstacles.
"Investments in cold-chain logistics must be considered, depending on whether vaccine distribution involves stringent or more conventional temperature requirements," the DHL white paper said.
"Under very stringent temperature requirements, structural challenges, such as availability of high-performance cold chain logistics for even the most adverse environmental conditions, can only be overcome through technological advances and policy intervention," it added.
According to the paper, around seven billion to nine billion vaccine doses and corresponding ancillary supplies are expected to be distributed annually between 2022 and 2023.
"Learning from the Covid-19 pandemic, governments should expand and institutionalize virus containment and countermeasures (e.g., early-warning systems, digital contact tracing, and national stockpiles) to ensure strategic preparedness and more efficient response times in the future," it said.
"Achieving high vaccination rates is indispensable for a return to normality. Initial models suggest that 5 billion to 6 billion people will need to be vaccinated to ensure the sustainable management of this virus with minimal mortality rates," it added.
Meanwhile, India has seen an unabated rise in fresh covid-19 cases in the last few days, with daily additions touching over two lakh. About 276,110 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, according to government data.
"Better collaboration, boost for manufacturing capacity (for vaccines), research, production and procurement plans and expansion of local deployment capabilities are needed in the coming months," said R.S Subramanian, SVP and Managing Director, DHL Express India.
"There is a movement in this direction," he added.
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