Australiandrone-basedlogisticscompanySwoopAerohassucceededintransportingcriticalPfizervaccinesinMalawi.Theairdeliveryofthevaccines,whichrequireultra-coldchainconditions,marksamilestoneforMalawi,aswellasforSwoopAeroandmedicalairdeliveriesingeneral,showcasingthepotentialthetechnologyhastosupportpublichealth.
Over17,280COVID-19vaccinedoseshavebeensuccessfullydeliveredacrosstheSoutherndistrictsofMalawisofar,withmanufacturerssuchasAstraZenecaandJohnsonandJohnsonmakinguseoftheexistingSwoopAerodronenetworktoquicklydistributecriticalvaccinestoremotecommunities.SwoopAerointendstodeliverthousandsmorevaccinesastheybecomeavailable.
“ThedeliveryofPfizerCOVID-19vaccinesunderscoresthenovelvalueofbi-directionaldronenetworksinMalawi,”saidSwoopAeroCEOEricPeck.“Theglobalsupplychainbottlenecksevidencedoverthepasttwoyearshavedemonstratedtheneedforagileandrobustsolutionsthatcomplementexistingmethodsoftransportationtoensurethevaccinesaredistributedtothoseinneedinatimelyandeffectivemanner.”
SwoopAerocontinuesitsongoingcollaborationwiththeMinistryofHealthandPopulation,alongsideVillageReachandwithfundingfromFocusingPhilanthropy,toincreasethescaleofthebi-directionaldronenetworktoanationalleveloverthecourseofthenextseveralmonths.Thisincreaseinscalewouldsignificantlyincreasetheavailabilityandaccessibilityofessentialhealthsuppliesfor700,000peopledirectly,and3millionpeopleindirectly.
TheSwoopAerodronenetworkhasmaintainedaroutineandon-demandbi-directionaldronenetworkforcommunitiescutofffromessentialhealthservicesasaresultoffloodingcausedbytherecentnaturaldisaster.ThiscontinuednetworkoperationhasallowedforreliableroutinevaccinationclinicsforCOVID-19aswellasotherpreventableandcommunicablediseases,suchasmalaria,TBandpolio,allofwhichhaveseenanincreaseasaresultofpoorwaterandsanitationconditions.
SwoopAerohashadsimilarsuccessinthepastutilizingtheirultracoldchaindronesolutionbytransportingtheEbolavaccineinDRCongo.Thistechnologyallowsfortherapiddistributionofroutineandemergencyhealthsupplies,pavingthewayforwardforuseinhigh,middleandlowresourcesettings.
