KARACHI: As shortage of anti-Covid-19 vaccines are being reported in various cities of the country, an international group based in Abu Dhabi has shown its interest in making uninterrupted supply of vaccines through their end-to-end value chains and innovative systems. Speaking at a virtual press roundtable the other day, officials of HOPE Consortium, an Abu Dhabi group, said that they were in talks with the authorities in Pakistan to make arrangements for uninterrupted supply of vaccines to various hospitals and vaccination centres.
Pakistan has a contract with COVAX, an international body “working for global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines”. The officials said that if HOPE began supplying vaccines to Pakistan, they would ensure their timely delivery from the manufacturing companies to anywhere in the country.
Pakistan is presently facing a shortage of vaccines in various cities as the supplies at major hospitals and centres have been exhausted in the rapid response to immunization drive by the general public. The country has administered 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far with a planned vaccination of over 100 million people by July 2022.
The shortage of supplies at the vaccination centres could be attributed to the lack of tracking facility of the vaccination process, enhanced storage facilities, and weak coordination and disruption among the departments. HOPE would work with partners in Pakistan to develop systems, including central storage systems extending digital supply chain solutions capability while providing a ground facility system, said Robert Suttan, head of Abu Dhabi Ports Logistics Clusters.
It will supply vaccines of different producers to Pakistan ensuring sustainable management of end-to-end, supply-chain and efficient storage system across the country. The region of Middle East and South Asia needs an estimated two billion doses of vaccine, but the capability and capacity to store doses is in thousands only.
This is where HOPE Consortium will provide technical support, ensuring timely delivery of vaccines at a regulated price, said the officials. “Many countries in the world, including Pakistan, are facing a few challenges in terms of their geography, temperature, volume, and penetration. We need to go to the communities in remote points to make sure that everyone is vaccinated. And this is something which cannot be done in isolation but with collaboration. HOPE Consortium is working to extend its value chain to provide vaccines to people across the globe at the lowest rates at the fastest possible time,” Suttan further added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021