Africa-Press – Tanzania. AS Tanzania is currently rolling out its vaccination plan, Hope Consortium of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates is seeking local partners to ensure the vaccines are transported and delivered safely in the country.
The country is providing Johnson Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at the 550 designate health facilities donated by the United States government through the COVAX arrangement, with priority given to frontline health care workers, and people with chronic diseases as well as adults 50 years and above.
Hope Consortium, which comprises different logistics and health partners, is said to have developed one of the most extensive and integrated, end to- end supply chain solutions in the world, capable of delivering millions of vaccines from the point of production to the point of vaccination, safely, effectively and transparently.
Robert Sutton, the Head of the consortium’s Logistics Cluster, said during a webinar that the assurance of supplying the vaccines per country’s requirement was not in a way questionable.
“The Consortium is a combined effort to move vaccines from anywhere in the world to required place…we are looking forward to working with Tanzania by understanding the unique requirements,” he said.
Tanzania has already received the first batch of over one million Johnson Covid-19 vaccines donated by the United States government through the COVAX arrangement.
The country has also placed another order with the African Union. The AU has secured 400 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson one-dose Covid-19 vaccine for purchase by African nations, which started to be shipped to the countries last month.
Tanzania is one of the biggest purchasers of the jabs. Addressing a press conference recently, Chief government spokesperson and Director of Information service Mr Gerson Msigwa said that Tanzania is expected to receive 11 million vaccine doses.
“We are in a race against the virus and it is our responsibility to make sure there are no losses in the supply chain,” said Chiara Venutti, Hope consortium’s Head of Airline Partnerships when she spoke through a webinar session with Tanzanian journalists.
She highlighted that there are plans and logistics in place to make sure the vaccines, no matter where they come from, arrive in time and in perfect condition for the mean exercise.
