[ad_1]
BEIJING / SHANGHAI, Dec.3 (Reuters) – Alibaba Group’s Cainiao is in talks with Chinese vaccine manufacturers over COVID-19 vaccine logistics, a spokesperson said Thursday, as the company launched a partnership with Ethiopian Airlines for transportation. of medicines in the Middle East and Africa.
“We are currently in discussions with some national COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers and international organizations about cooperating on COVID-19 vaccine logistics,” the spokesperson said.
Cainiao, a logistics company, supports delivery for Alibaba’s e-commerce market and says it aims to deliver worldwide in 72 hours. The spokesperson did not name the vaccine manufacturers.
The company and Ethiopian Airlines have launched a special cold chain air transport service to transport temperature-sensitive medicines from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen to Africa and to the rest of the world via Dubai and Addis Abba.
“This is the first cross-border medical cold chain route in China to be operated regularly and is certified to transport temperature-controlled medicines, including COVID-19 vaccines,” Cainiao said in a statement.
China has several vaccine developers who perform the final stages of clinical trials to determine the effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccine candidates. They include Sinovac Biotech Ltd, CanSinoBio and China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).
Cold chain storage and transportation became increasingly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, which killed nearly 1.5 million people. The promising Pfizer vaccine, for example, must be stored in temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 F) or below.
(Reportage by Roxanne Liu in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Source link
