Abu Dhabi centre’s key role in global virus battle
▶ About 45 million shots have already been distributed from the site to 35 countries around the world
A Covid-19 vaccine storage site in Abu Dhabi has become a vital centre for the global distribution of millions of doses, especially to the developing world.
Up to 120 million doses can be stored at the 19,000-squaremetre, ultra-cold centre. About 45 million doses have already been sent to 35 countries.
The Hope Consortium, a group of healthcare and logistics companies that include Etihad and Abu Dhabi Ports, recently increased the number of freezers at the site from 21 to 53.
Plans are now under way to increase the amount of vaccine doses that can be distributed in a year from six billion to 18 billion.
“This is under implementation, not just future thinking,” said Dr Omar Najim, executive office director at the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi.
The National visited the centre in the Khalifa Industrial Zone and saw the ultra-cold chambers where doses can be kept at temperatures as low as minus 80°C.
Workers and visitors need to wear heavy jackets to endure more than five minutes inside the chambers.
Capacity at the centre is expected to be increased by the end of the year.
There has been an increasing demand for Covid-19 vaccines, especially in the developing world.
The ability to store doses at ultra-cold temperatures is crucial for some Covid-19 vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.
The centre in Abu Dhabi saves countries and communities around the world from having to tackle the “challenge of building their own supply chains”, said Robert Sutton, head of logistics at Abu Dhabi Ports.
“The model allows it to store large quantities of vaccines at its advanced-cold and ultracold storage hub in Abu Dhabi, at temperatures ranging from 8°C to minus 80°C, and to align its deliveries with the ability of recipient countries and communities to absorb these supplies safely,” he said.
The site, which is operated by Abu Dhabi Ports, has been distributing doses locally, as well as to countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
“At any point in time we have between 5 and 50 per cent occupancy,” Mr Sutton said.
“The reason it is so low is because the vaccine supply is lower than the demand, but with time they will balance the supply and there will be a greater need for storage.”
The amount of doses received and distributed varies from day to day. The centre currently sends between one million and 1.5 million doses a day to local vaccination centres.
“And international shipments vary from 10,000 to 100,000 to one million a day. No day is like the next,” Mr Sutton said.
“But what we can say is that we are able to process the vaccines now on a daily basis, and Etihad, our airline partner, is not very far from here.”
The centre was initially used as storage early last year to support the government’s food reserve programme.
“But then Covid came and we quickly switched from food to health care,” Mr Sutton said.
The Hope Consortium was co-founded by the Department of Health, Abu Dhabi Ports, Etihad Cargo, Rafed, Skycell and Maqta Gateway.
Up to 120 million vaccine doses can be stored at the 19,000-square-metre, ultra-cold centre in the Khalifa Industrial Zone