Freight specialist DHL Global Forwarding will be delivering the newly approved Covid-19 antiviral pills to South Korea to bolster its fight against the pandemic.
South Korea will be the first country in Asia Pacific to receive the treatment courses.
DHL has been heavily involved in the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, shipping well over 1.8 billion shipments of vaccines across 174 countries.
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SP Song, Managing Director of DHL Global Forwarding Korea, said that the Group feels privileged to be part of the global fight against the pandemic.
“Our network around the world banded together to make the fastest, smoothest delivery of Covid-19 vaccines worldwide possible,” Song said.
“Now, we’re doing the same with the latest antiviral pills said to significantly lessen the severity of the disease for patients and the community,” he said.
“We are honored to deliver this important shipment to South Korea, the first country in Asia Pacific to receive the Covid-19 antiviral pills.”
Song explained that unlike the shipments of Covid-19 vaccines, which were required to be shipped under specific temperature and dry ice conditions, the transportation of the antiviral pills are akin to regular pharmaceutical goods transported at a range of 15-25 degree Celsius, requiring limited bespoke logistics arrangements.
DHL managed the transport of the antiviral pills from the production sites in Germany to Belgium, where the shipment undergoes value-added thermal packaging before being transported to its destination in South Korea.
Song also emphasised how important it is that as many people as possible have access to vaccines and the necessary life-saving medication when needed.
“With a highly experienced global network of healthcare logistics expertise to ensure the integrity of the antiviral pills throughout the journey, we’re proud to continue our part and help make a difference to lives and livelihoods in the communities we operate in”, he said.
More than 9,000 life sciences and healthcare specialists work across DHL’s dedicated global network.
Logistics providers over the globe are challenged to establish medical supply chain rapidly to deliver vaccines of an unprecedented amount of more than 10 billion doses worldwide—also in regions with less developed logistics infrastructures, where approximately 3 billion people live.
In its 2020 vaccine logistics whitepaper, DHL estimated that meeting global coverage within the next two years would need up to 200,000 pallet shippers and 15 million cooling boxes, including 15,000 flights.
DHL also estimated that from 2022 onwards, a further 7-9 billion vaccine doses are necessary annually to keep (re-)infection rates low and slow down the pace of virus mutations.
Source: DHL