The first long-range drone delivery of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, which require ultra-cold-chain management, has been completed in Ghana.

Significantly, it presents a new model for vaccine distribution, particularly in remote rural areas.

The delivery solution was made possible through a collaboration between logistics service Zipline, Pfizer and BioNTech. They partnered to develop the end-to-end model, which includes the management and storage of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at -90°C to -60°C. According to Pfizer, this breakthrough will allow for the distribution of approximately 50 000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine – as well as other mRNA vaccines – in Ghana.

By mid-November, more than 220 000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from multiple manufacturers had been distributed across Ghana by Zipline.

‘Delivery to people in remote and hard-to-reach places is a primary challenge for global vaccination,’ says Keller Rinaudo, Zipline co-founder and CEO. ‘We are working to help transform vaccine distribution into a more effective, equitable process.’

30 November 2021
Image: Zipline