Air Freight Conference COVID-19 vaccine distribution with Unicef, Pfizer, Logista Pharma, GS1 and Lufthansa
Vaccine supply chains are speeding up. Still there are a number of challenges: air freight capacity, last mile distribution, production of vaccines and delivery to developing countries. During the second edition of the Air Freight Conference – COVID-19 vaccine distribution – on the 23rd of March high-level expert speakers will share and discuss their ideas and insights.
What does the distribution landscape of vaccines look like four months after the start in December 2020? What are the differences worldwide? What are the manufacturers doing to ramp up production volumes? What are the key challenges distributing to remote countries? And which solutions are developed for the last mile distribution?
Last mile
The biggest bottleneck is in the last mile in getting the vaccines to the actual points of dispensing. “This is currently a weak spot in the whole distribution model which needs to be sorted out as soon as possible”, Eelco Dijkstra, Managing Partner of Europhia said. “Vaccine manufacturers might argue that the current last mile is a responsibility for governments to organize as part of their own domestic immunization strategy. However, in the regular commercial model of pharmaceutical distribution, the dispensing of medicines and drugs to hospitals, pharmacies and other points of dispensing is typically organized by the manufacturers themselves. They also manage for their own product portfolios the forecasting, and the replenishment models. They have the tools, technologies and partners in place to manage supply planning more effectively through their own supply chain organization and with their logistics partners.” 
Governments traditionally do not have the expertise nor the people in place to organize the supply chain for pharmaceuticals. “Given the enormous scale of this pandemic, most governments simply do not have the required expertise to manage the logistics. It is therefore imperative for manufacturers to step up and provide more support in the domestic distribution and take the lead when it comes to the logistics rather than leaving this to governments. In turn, the medical teams within governments can focus more on all the other areas related to the immunization programs themselves. Some of these other critical areas include organizing points of use, the planning of vaccination resources and appointments, medical administration processes, public awareness etc. Current final mile bottlenecks need to be fixed quickly and professional supply chain support can be an enabler in this process to streamline processes quickly”, Dijkstra said.
Last mile distribution is just one of the topics at the conference. During the event high-level expert speakers will share and discuss their ideas and insights. Pfizer, UNICEF, Lufthansa, UPS, Movianto and GS1 are just some of the companies attending.
For all professionals in vaccine logistics
From multiple studios there will be a professional stream with a lot of possibilities to interact with the stage, meet other participants one-on-one and gain crucial insights in this complex topic. The event is meant for supply chain specialists representing: shippers, carriers, logistic service providers, governments, NGO’s, (air)ports and other stakeholders.