This Country Takes Advantage Of Drones To Send COVID-19 Vaccines To Remote Areas,

Drone launch facility to deliver vaccines. (Source: gavi.org/Samuel Moore)

JAKARTA - Distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to remote and hard-to-reach areas is not easy. Many countries have difficulty distributing COVID-19 vaccines due to location and distance constraints.

One of the innovations made to overcome this obstacle is to distribute vaccines using drones. For example in Ghana. Cited from gavi.org, this country on the African continent started a vaccine distribution program with drones on March 2.

Launched from the Ashanti Region, the drone was able to reach the Asuofua health center some 70 kilometers after 34 minutes of launch. The drone slowed down then descended and the vaccine it was carrying was 'unloaded' by officers at the location.

A total of 250 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine were successfully delivered using drones within five hours. Not long after, all these doses were successfully injected into residents in the area.

Operated by American medical delivery company Zipline, the drone is said to have delivered nearly 25.000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that Ghanaians desperately need.

Health workers receiving a 'delivery' of the COVID-19 vaccine. (Source: gavi.org/Samuel Moore)

This is due to the Ghana Ministry of Health's decision, in partnership with Zipline and logistics company UPS, to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to remote rural areas which would be difficult and expensive to reach by road.

“It puts into your mind a different perspective on what logistics looks like”, said Daniel Marfo, Zipline's Senior Vice President in Africa, cited from Euronews.

The Zipline drone operator says using drones to target vaccine deliveries to specific health centers helps reduce wastage.

"Just by having the ability to say that in the morning, you walk into the center, you know that exactly 130 people are here at this moment. So we fly in enough doses for just 130 people, this is a very powerful thing to do. You don't estimate, you don't overestimate, you only deliver what is needed, meaning you don't waste doses".

To note, to date, Ghana has provided a total of 1.23 million vaccines, while 376.000 people have been fully vaccinated. Ghana was the first country to receive a large shipment of vaccines through the COVAX initiative, a worldwide program aimed at equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine.