Companies specializing in drones have created plans for COVID-19 vaccine distribution in different countries.
The approval of the first COVID-19 vaccines late last year brought new challenges for distribution around the world. German and U.S. companies have created drone-based distribution schemes.
Some companies, such as Zipline, are not only in the drone delivery sector, but also in medical deliveries. The company has been working since 2016 in African countries such as Ghana and Rwanda to supply resources and medicines to rural clinics in those countries. In addition, following the pandemic, since last year they also made deliveries of medical protective equipment in North Carolina, on the east coast of the United States.
The San Francisco-based company is looking to deliver any of the vaccines, as they have built a system that can deliver medical supplies that require low temperatures. The company has even reached out to Pfizer to support efforts to expand access to vaccines in hard-to-reach geographic areas. A few days ago, the company also reported that they will allow drone delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in Kaduna, Nigeria, delivery drone after having delivered more than 1 million doses of other vaccines in Africa in the last year.
The German company Wingcopter, on the other hand, will perform similar tasks. The company has experience in countries in Africa and Southeast Asia and is now looking to deliver and ship COVID-19 vaccines. Tom Pluemmer, CEO of the Weiterstadt-based company, explained to Reuters that, "“COVID is now making it necessary to build it out fast, but once it’s there we will have a new type of infrastructure that could carry things like medication, blood, lab samples and even normal daily goods.”
In Malawi this company has started a project in response to COVID-19 called Drone + Data Aid, which seeks to improve medical resource supply chains, in collaboration with the German government. Moreover, they have struck a partnership with UNICEF, African Done and Data Academy to train young people in drone operation.
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