Ahead of India’s mega inoculation drive starting next week, airlines are gearing up to fly tonnes of vaccine to different parts of the country. To be specific, the government has asked airlines to get ready to transport 30 tonnes of vaccines immediately.
While airlines and airports have been told to be prepared at a short notice, there was confusion on whether the first shipment had been transported on Thursday.
The civil aviation ministry has had many review meetings with airlines and airports to fine tune plans for vaccine transport.
Earlier this week, the Drug Controller General of India gave emergency use authorisation to Pune-based Serum Institute of India, manufacturer of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine Covishield. Hyderabad’s Bharat Biotech got emergency use nod while in third phase clinical trial for Covaxin.
In the first phase, vaccine would be flown from Pune and Hyderabad to metro cities. Initially, the doses will be transported in scheduled passenger flights, and charters too could be used later.
“We are working with the government closely to develop SOPs for vaccine transport. As the largest airline in the country, we hope to proactively participate in vaccine transportation,” IndiGo chief executive officer Ronojoy Dutta said.
National carrier Air India and SpiceJet too are working on it. For instance, SpiceJet, which also operates freighters, tied up with cold chain service providers recently.
According to officials involved in formulating the vaccine transport exercise, Pune-based SB Logistics will carry the vaccine from Serum’s factory to the airport after which specific airlines will handle the consignments.
Aviation regulator DGCA will come out with a standard operating procedure by Friday as vaccines may be required to be carried in dry ice which is considered a dangerous good inside an aircraft. However, airline officials said that requisite temperature for vaccine can be maintained using gel packs too.
While it was initially expected that dedicated freighter aircraft and Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster will be deployed to carry vaccine, it was finally decided that for the first stage the consignments will be carried in passenger aircraft as belly cargo. Serum has communicated that initially only limited dosages will be available and therefore passenger aircraft can be used, according to one of the officials. Booking larger freighter aircraft will not be cost effective, he said. ‘’From February as output increases, freighter jets will be deployed,” he pointed out.
Pune Airport director Kuldip Singh said the airport would arrange priority landing and takeoff clearance to aircraft carrying the vaccine. “We have enough infrastructure…. Every day we operate 37 flights to 15 destinations around the country. We handle 150 tonnes of cargo daily,’’ Singh said.
Meanwhile, with the vaccination drive just days away, the government is yet to finalise a supply deal with the two vaccine makers approved for emergency use. Around 20 million doses may be taken from Serum Institute in the first lot, sources said. Vaccination, it is learnt, may start from northern states such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
India plans to vaccinate around 30 million, requiring 60 million doses, in the first phase. Bharat Biotech has said that it has 20 million doses of Covaxin ready while Serum Institute can immediately provide 50 million doses of Covishield.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, had told Business Standard that unless there was clarity on procurement, it was not feasible to keep manufacturing and stock-piling at the plant site. He has also indicated that as soon as the firm has guidance from the government on the number of doses, it would be able to mobilise the same within seven days to any part of the country in its own refrigerated trucks.
Serum Institute has a stockpile of 50 million doses and a capacity to make 100 million doses a month. Covishield is packed as 10 doses of 5 ml each in a one single pack. It can be stored in 2-8 degrees Celsius for six months and once opened it has to be used within six hours.
Logistic players too have geared up for transport of vaccines. Rahul Agarwal, Managing Director at Kool-ex Cold Chain Limited, said, "We are the largest in primary transportation, which is from manufacturers to government depot. We have tied up with Serum, Bharat Bio and also Zydus.’’ But for the secondary transportation — from government depot to the last mile —there are no tenders out yet.
Chander Agarwal, Managing Director at TCI Express, said, "We are in discussions with the governments. There is going to be a hub-and-spoke model for distribution. So vaccines will be sent to major cities first, then to small ones and towns and further to districts.’’
At the district level, the reach can only be via roads, making transportation by truck critical in vaccine distribution, Agarwal pointed out.
(with inputs from Aditi Divekar)