COVID-19: Experts link vaccine distribution imbalance to supply challenges

Experts have attributed the imbalance in vaccine distribution in Africa to the availability of few vaccines in the market, noting that the development is responsible for limited vaccines on the continent, including Nigeria.

Recall that less than two per cent of all the world’s vaccines have been administered in Africa so far.

Speaking at a virtual roadshow on how Hope Consortium, a global supply chain, responsible for delivering billions of COVID-19 vaccines to countries, Head of Logistics Cluster, Abu Dhabi Ports, Robert Sutton, said the inadequate number of vaccines in the market posed a serious challenge to meet the level of demand across countries.

Hope Consortium confirmed that it is looking forward to assisting the continent and the Nigerian market with vaccines distribution, said it is developing the capacity to transport, store and distribute 18 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses yearly to countries around the world, including Nigeria.

The organisation, along with partners, have developed one of the most extensive and integrated, end-to-end supply chain solutions in the world, capable of delivering millions of vaccines from the point of production to the point of vaccination, safely, effectively and transparently.

“Hope Consortium’s mission is to deliver vaccines to all those in need irrespective of where they find themselves and help win the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort places Abu Dhabi as the central life sciences hub for the global response to the pandemic by leveraging its strategic position as a gateway to two-third of the global population.

“We have pooled the collective expertise of our partners to provide multi-faceted logistics services to handle transport, demand planning, sourcing, training, and digital technology infrastructure, to facilitate vaccine availability across the world,” the organisation said.

It added that their partners, which are industry leaders within their own sectors, have come together to leverage their unique capabilities to offer the world a complete end-to-end vaccine delivery solution covering both the physical movement of the vaccines in parallel with a digital solution monitoring and reporting on the supply chain progress and compliance.