Tech in Africa
Kaduna State in Nigeria has just signed a deal with Zipline a medical delivery firm to allow for drone shipments of Covid-19 saving the state immense costs of cold-chain storage.
Zipline managed to deliver over a million doses of vaccines across Africa. Kaduna state will rely on that track record to enable on-demand delivery of medications, blood products, and other vaccines. Nasir El-Rufai Kaduna’s Governor assured this will help millions.
Zipline will utilize its end-to-end cold chain distribution capability to safely deliver the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. This helps health facilities across Kaduna bypass having to purchase ultra-low freezers and enabling on-demand deliveries of precise numbers of Covid-19 vaccines.
According to Reuters, the company is working with a major Covid-19 manufacturer to streamline the flow of vaccine deliveries. Most nations across Africa have limited cold-chain storage, poor road, and rail networks. This sets a situation where most nations are grappling with how best to deliver the Covid-19 vaccines.
Pfizer vaccine should be stored at temperatures of below -70 degrees Celsius (-112°F) before distribution in specially designed cool boxes packed with dry ice.
