UPS Healthcare and UPS Foundation facilitate equitable Vaccine Deliveries

The UPS Foundation and UPS Healthcare are working to quickly deliver an equitable delivery program of COVID-19 vaccines. The multinational (in collaboration with COVAX, Gavi and CARE) has made a commitment to supply 20 million doses to countries across four continents. Africa, Asia, Europe and South America are set to benefit from this effort through the UPS ‘cold-chain network’ which provides the necessary freezer capacity for global shipping of vaccines.

Scott Price, the President of UPS International, declared “We believe we have the ability- and responsibility- to facilitate and accelerate equitable COVID-19 vaccine delivery around the world”. Furthermore, his goal is to focus on “countries with limited resources and constrained supply chains and infrastructures” where UPS are able to make a real difference. At the current inoculation rate, of 6m doses per day, it would take around five and a half years to properly vaccinate 75% of the global population. This partnership between the public and private sector will help accelerate this international roll-out with minimised wastage.

UPS leverages an advantage in vaccine distribution through a network of cold-chain technology and is able to loan executives to provide logistical expertise, or co-ordination, with vaccine manufacturers/NGOs. The collaboration has raised $5m for Gavi-supported nations and builds upon long-standing charitable relations with UPS. You can find out more about this here.