Leading Dubai companies have formed an alliance to move two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines around the globe this year.
Air carrier Emirates, ports operator DP World and Dubai Airports have teamed up to speed up the distribution of inoculations through Dubai, the Gulf trade and tourism centre that now aims to become a vaccine hub as well.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, said “Each alliance partner brings to the table a specific and complementary set of strengths and capabilities in vaccine distribution, allowing us to build a 360-degree solution that harnesses the combined logistical and infrastructural advantages of Dubai as a hub.
“Together, we are able to store a large volume of vaccine doses at a time and bring in and distribute vaccines to any point around the world within 48 hours.”
The move “will particularly focus on emerging markets, where populations have been hard hit by the pandemic, and pharmaceutical transport and logistics are challenging,” according to the announcement by the government’s media office.
Emirates SkyCargo has over 15,000 square metres of cool chain space for pharmaceuticals across its terminals in Dubai and has already had a head start for Covid-19 vaccine logistics, having already moved vaccines on its flights during December.
International Humanitarian City (IHC), a Dubai-based global centre for humanitarian emergency response, has also joined the alliance. Since the current global crisis began, the IHC has facilitated the distribution of over 80 percent of the World Health Organisation’s global medical response in the fight against Covid-19.
The United Arab Emirates plans to start manufacturing the vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm this year. In addition to Sinopharm, the oil-rich country has approved Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s shot, and Russia’s Sputnik V, and has since rolled out an ambitious vaccination campaign.
It has so far inoculated a quarter of its population of 10 million, third only to Israel globally.
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