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IATA says COVID-19 vaccine delivery “mission of the century”
September 11th 2020
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said this week the global distribution of a potential vaccine for the coronavirus represented the air cargo industry's largest ever single transport challenge. Read More »
As work continues on various continents on the development of a vaccine, IATA has called on governments to begin careful planning with industry stakeholders in preparation for the mammoth task.
The airline lobby group said providing a single dose of a vaccine to 7.8 billion people would fill about 8,000 747 cargo aircraft.
Even if some vaccines were delivered by land transport, global delivery would require significant use of air cargo.
“Safely delivering COVID-19 vaccines will be the mission of the century for the global air cargo industry," de Juniac said in a statement. "But it won’t happen without careful advance planning. And the time for that is now.
"We urge governments to take the lead in facilitating cooperation across the logistics chain so that the facilities, security arrangements and border processes are ready for the mammoth and complex task ahead."
On facilities, IATA said the sensitive nature of vaccines meant they needed to be handled in line with regulatory requirements, such as being within allowed temperatures and having them delivered within certain timeframes to ensure the quality of the product.
The scale of activity would be vast, IATA has calculated, with the priorities to be availability of temperature-controlled facilities and equipment, sufficient staff trained to handle these types of products and implementation of "robust monitoring capabilities" to ensure the integrity of the vaccines was maintained.
While there were processes already in place to keep cargo shipments secure, IATA said the potential volume of vaccine shipments meant early planning was required to ensure those processes were scalable.
Also, working effectively with health and customs authorities would be "essential to ensure timely regulatory approvals, adequate security measures, appropriate handling and customs clearance", IATA said.
This included fast-track procedures for overflight and landing permits, exempting flight crews from quarantine requirements, removing curfews at airports, granting priority for flights carrying the vaccine on arrival to minimise delays and tariff relief.
In an additional development for the airfreight industry, IATA has launched a free online platform, IATA ONE Source, to help operators "match shipping needs with the availability of infrastructure capabilities and certifications of service providers across the value chain".
