Officials from the Hope Consortium have affirmed that Abu Dhabi can reach out to 3.5 billion people across the world within five hours. The Hope Consortium offers a “unique proposition” to the world by storing and distributing COVID-19 vaccines according to the requirements of the country in need, officials added.

Speaking about the development, Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamsi, Chairman of Hope Consortium Executive Committee and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Abu Dhabi Ports, said that the Consortium is placed at a strategic location to reach 3.5 billion people in the world with the aim of tackling the ongoing health crisis.

Addressing the World Immunisation and Logistics Summit in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Al Shamsi noted that Hope Consortium's partners, freight forwarders, and essentially Etihad Airways are helping in reaching the farthest distance as it delivers the COVID-19 vaccines to several countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

With temperature-controlled facilities in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), Abu Dhabi Ports is ensuring safe delivery of COVID-19 vaccines through a track and trace system. With investments in special vehicles for logistics, Abu Dhabi Ports is providing a full-packaged solution from manufacturers to consumers to store and deliver the crucial vaccines.

“We can handle the vaccine from the manufacturers, wherever it can be manufactured globally, source it within the UAE, we store it within Abu Dhabi and distribute it as and when needed by any country,” he added.

Abu Dhabi Ports has the capacity to store more than 120 million COVID-19 vaccines, along with the Hope Consortium working towards building a production capacity of 18 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Tony Douglas, Group CEO of the Etihad Aviation Group, affirmed that the national airline flew to 170 countries amid the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking this into account, Douglas asserted that it can reach 3.5 billion people within five hours.

“Etihad has flown to places we have never ever flown in the past,” he added.

At the same time, he underlined the need for wealthier countries to cater to the needs of “slowest adopters”. In this regard, Douglas said that the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the need of transporting 18 billion COVID-19 vaccines to countries in need by the end of the year.