Aviation’s Next Challenge: How Do Airlines Transport Vaccines?

Aviation will play a key role in transporting ground breaking vaccines in the fight against COVID-19. From the moment the wheels touch down it is a race against the clock, and the heat, to get the vital supplies to their final destination safely.

I was given a tour at the Emirates SkyPharma cold storage facility at Dubai Int’l Airport. I was shown through the logistics process and the required infrastructures in place for transporting vaccines . I was shown specialized containers (like mobile refrigerator) and cool dollies that can keep the temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals and vaccines cool during transit at airport.

In case of pharma cargo, which needs to be maintained at very low temperatures such as -70˚C, the manufacturer of the pharmaceutical will provide a passive packaging for the shipment, this will maintain the cargo at the required temperature. The passive packaging normally includes a coolant, such as dry ice.

In the video, we also talked about the current challenge of cargo space availability to handle the transport of vaccine.