Last-mile delivery problems hampering pace of Covid vaccine rollout, distributors say

The tear to provide safe and effective coronavirus vaccinations has been curtailed by logistical problems associated with last-mile pronunciation, according to executives at two companies helping to distribute inoculations.

The mass rollout of vaccines is thought to be the biggest logistical call into doubt the world has ever seen, with everyone from policymakers to manufacturers grappling with questions over set someone back, transportation, distribution and equitable access.

Vaccine developers have estimated it will be possible to produce enough quantities for more than one-third of the world’s population by the end of 2021. However, while many high-income countries have started to execute doses, others have been left behind.

“I said from the beginning it will not be a problem of global logistics, it purpose be a problem of last-mile (delivery) from our warehouses to doctors or whoever because it is difficult to transport minus 70 degrees effects,” Deutsche Post DHL CEO Frank Appel told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.

“And, of course, it is also difficult to scale qualification so rapidly because nobody knew which vaccine would work,” Appel said.

His say discusses on transporting vaccines at ultra-cold temperatures ostensibly referred to the Covid vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, which should be kept at a temperature of about minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit) and requires specialized storage equipment and transportation.

Many other safe and effective Covid vaccines do not require ultra-cold storage during sharing.

Appel said Deutsche Post DHL was “well prepared” to deliver Covid vaccines over the coming months, cause already operated more than 50 flights transporting shipments within Europe and elsewhere.

Dorothea von Boxberg, member of the executive board and chief commercial officer at Lufthansa Cargo, said on Tuesday that the air shipping industry would be ready to deliver Covid vaccines during an expected surge in global demand later this year.

“The dynamism is prepared. There won’t be a bottleneck in the air freight section of it to deliver the vaccines. I think we are there,” von Boxberg said via videoconference at the Davos Agenda top.

She told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum that “every freighter is in the air every time it can be,” after acknowledging the airline industriousness had been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

When asked to identify the major issues hampering a faster rollout of Covid vaccines, von Boxberg remarked it was a question of vaccine availability and last-mile delivery.

“You don’t only need the vaccine, but you also have to have the patient, the doctor, additional material similar kind syringes. So, it is a big, big logistical effort to get everything in place, and also keeping the cold chain at the same time for the vaccines,” von Boxberg mentioned.

The United Nations said last week that it is working with governments “around the clock” to make unflinching that countries are ready to receive Covid vaccines in the coming weeks. This means working alongside airlines, and shipping and logistics providers “to ensure safe and timely delivery.”