Ethiopian Airlines leverages cold chain facilities to bring vaccines to Africa

Ethiopian Airlines is taking the lead among African airlines by transporting the continent’s first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, which arrived on a cargo flight from Beijing to Addis Ababa over the weekend. The flight was the culmination of large investments Ethiopian has made in its pharmaceutical and temperature-controlled transport facilities. The carrier operated a cargo flight from Beijing to Addis Ababa with vaccines en route to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, carrying doses of the Sinovac Chinese Covid-19 vaccine. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines being used in the the US and much of the West, the Chinese-developed vaccine can be stored at ordinary refrigerator temperatures. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require storage at -70 and -20 degrees Celsius, respectively. But even the Sinovac vaccine’s less onerous requirements pose logistical challenges in a region with poor infrastructure. In anticipation of Covid vaccine transport, Ethiopian Airlines last year invested in its Pharma Wing, a temperature-controlled facility capable of handling cold storage and local transport. Key to vaccine transport is maintaining the “cold chain,” or controlling the temperature of a shipment from point of manufacture, on the aircraft, and through ground shipment on both ends of the journey. The company also launched cargo flights to Asia via Anchorage.<br/>