CAAS and Changi Airport set up team to tackle vaccine air transport and logistics challenges

Publisher : Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China / http://www.minhangshi.com/m/h5/detail/8968387 / Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

According to Lianhe Zaobao, as the developments of SARS-CoV-2 (covi) vaccines are getting closer to the end, Singapore has also begun to prepare for mass vaccination plans. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group have recently established a working group covering the public sector and private companies to deal with the risks and challenges of airborne vaccines to ensure that the vaccines can be delivered to Singapore  and other countries in the region via Changi Airport in a safe and reliable manner. 

Lin Zhenjie, Managing Director of Aviation Business Development of Changi Airport Group, did not specify the specific members of the working group. He only said that the group is mainly composed of key personnel in the air cargo industry, including ground handling companies, airlines, logistics companies, and relevant government departments. He said, "The goal of the working group is to identify and resolve the major risks and challenges involved in airborne covi vaccines, so as to ensure that the vaccines can be effectively transported through Changi Airport to Singapore and sent to other parts of the region."

Lin Zhenjie said: “The distribution of covi vaccines is challenging and requires all participants in the air cargo industry to make good use of their established capabilities. At the same time, it also involves a complicated process, that is, how to deal with the current tight air cargo capacity. Under the circumstances, strict conditions such as temperature control are met, and vaccines can be transported in large quantities effectively."

At present, among the three covi vaccines that are closest to the end point, the vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech must be stored at a low temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius, while the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom must be stored at 2 degrees Celsius. A cold storage environment up to 8 degrees Celsius is sufficient, and the storage and transportation conditions are lower than the other two models.

Changi Airport Group pointed out that Singapore currently has 12 air cargo operators with CEIV Pharma certification, the largest number in the Asia-Pacific region. CEIV Pharma is a certification issued by the International Air Transport Association to ensure that upstream and downstream companies in the air supply chain have the ability to handle and deliver low-temperature and valuable drugs.

According to the “Business Times” report on 28 November 2020, Singapore Airlines and ground handling company SATS have CEIV Pharma certification. In response to the inquiry, Singapore Airlines refused to disclose whether it had received an order to deliver vaccines on the grounds of trade secrets. However, a spokesperson for Singapore Airlines pointed out that the company is negotiating with various supply chain partners for vaccine shipments, including discussions with container suppliers, to ensure a safe supply of containers that can operate within the required temperature range.

Singapore has currently invested nearly 300 million Dollars in the production and purchase of the covi vaccine "ARCT-021" developed by the Duke-NUS School of Medicine and the American pharmaceutical company Arcturus Therapeutics. It has also cooperated with many pharmaceutical companies to increase the probability of Singapore covi vaccine purchase but the specific manufacturer and relevant details have not been announced so far.