On a historic date for modern vaccines, Emirates SkyCargo crosses COVID-19 vaccine transportation milestone

July 6, 1885 was a historic date for modern medicine and treatment. This was the day when Louis Pasteur administered the first attenuated vaccine to a human patient. Over the next 135 years, the development of vaccines for various diseases grew by leaps and bounds. Most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists across the world raced to develop vaccination solutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Emirates SkyCargo has played a crucial role in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturing locations to destinations around the world, particularly to developing countries. The freight division of Emirates has flown 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through Dubai.

Some of the key highlights of Emirates SkyCargo’s COVID-19 vaccine transportation include

• More than 600 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccines transported on Emirates aircraft, the equivalent of 150 million doses
• COVID-19 vaccines flown to more than 80 destinations across six continents
• More than 3,500 packages of COVID-19 vaccines transported
• Six different COVID-19 vaccines transported.

Emirates SkyCargo is a global leader in the air transportation of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals including COVID-19 vaccines. The air cargo carrier has dedicated GDP certified infrastructure at its Dubai hub for handling pharmaceuticals. Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier flew close to 200 tonnes of pharmaceuticals every day on its flights.

In January 2021, Emirates SkyCargo joined hands with DP World, International Humanitarian City and Dubai Airports to form the Dubai Vaccine Logistics Alliance aimed at rapidly transporting COVID-19 vaccines through Dubai to developing countries. This was shortly followed up in February 2021 with an MoU with UNICEF to expedite the transportation of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative.