Listen: Pharma.Aero on COVID-19 vaccine transport security

As COVID-19 vaccine shipments accelerate, m ore innovations in container technology are likely on the horizon. However, it is not only temperature deviations that present a threat to vaccine integrity — as high-value, important and time-critical cargo, vaccine shipments also face physical and digital security risks . In this episode of On Air with Air Cargo World , Joshua Aelick talks to Nathan de Valck , Frank van Gelder and Emir Pineda of Pharma.Aero about some of the security issues surrounding the transport of COVID-19 vaccines . The Brussels-based , collaborative organization unites airports, pharma shippers and other stakeholders to ensure shipments are immune to other dangers . For more on the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain, see our full fe ature in the latest online issue of Air Cargo World . A transcript is available below. This transcript has been generated by software and is being presented as is. Some transcription errors may remain. Joshua Aelick Hello and welcome to this episode of On Air with air cargo world. I'm your hosts Joshua. Recently I spoke to Emir Pineda , a single point of contact for the Pharma.Aero and TIACA Joint Task Force. Nathan de Valck , Chairman of Pharma.Aero, and Frank van Gelder, Secretary General of Pharma.Aero. Pharma.Aero is a Brussels-based nonprofit and inter-industry collaborative unit connecting airports for shippers, and other stakeholders with the goal of ensuring the effective transport of pharmaceuticals across the world. In this episode, we discuss some of the security and safety concerns surrounding the initial shipments of COVID-19 vaccines. So I'm wondering about surprises you might have encountered during the initial rollout, but specifically as it relates to the storage and the shipment technology, if there were any examples of that, that you're able to talk about. Nathan De Valck I think when it comes to it's not really a surprise, but definitely confirmation of an attention point we had already put on our agenda with additional security when it comes to storage of these vaccines. And not only physical security, but also digital security. And we've we've seen some reports and warnings about people that want to potentially steal or copy or counterfeit these these vaccines, because they're extremely high value, of course. So that is definitely something which we, which we have to to look at. I'm not saying we have to upgrade a lot because most of the security regimes for the for the warehouses where these vaccines are handled at the airport, or are part of the regulated agency of cargo security regime. So it's like putting all the security procedures that already existed, put it on sharp and and made sure all the different stakeholders talk to each other, that there's no weak links in the Secure Shell secure chain, including the airport itself. And when it comes to transporting the goods to the to the to the aircraft, I think that is one of the examples where we, where we definitely had to pay to do more than like the standard for my handling services that would offer it in the past. Frank Van Gelder Yeah, and that underlines is domain age. And I'd say it's one of our major conclusions, or just second white paper that came out is the need for this private and public joint collaboration when airport or air cargo communities with themselves around the table to make it work. So it was actually drafting a full scenario with temperature and handling, but also security, reliability, speed, all the elements that were very important when it came down to this traceability to this vaccine, that these airport and air cargo communities drafted agendas around the clock to be ready to do it. And that underlines the wide need for a collaborative approach. Nathan De Valck And then the third element I would like to add, which is was already touched upon by Amy is the need to, to collaborate within the community and to set up control towers. We also did that at Brussels airport, basically to make sure that the information about all these vaccine shipments, typically they're like, every operator that handles a vaccine or a pharma shipment will collect a lot of data on that shipment at the temperature at which it's handled and specific checks they do. And timestamps, we now have set up a process within our communities to share all those all those data points in a digital system, which is controlled by a community control tower. And this this gives additional visibility and traceability of the shipment. And that is definitely it's just that we are just at the start of this initiative, but it's definitely a very specific request from the pharmaceutical manufacturers and the forwarders that that want that to have the ability to know real time where what readership and this and if something would go wrong, that they can immediately react against that. Which is immediate with what you already referred to with at Miami as well like an event control power function. Emir Pineda Right. Correct. In our case, you know, we've got several airlines that are using that initiative to make sure that they're tracking the shipment throughout the transportation process and making sure that temperature insecurity is maintained throughout the entire process. And that's something that maybe we haven't touched upon a little bit too much. It's the security nature of the vaccine distribution. It's something that's very important. Early on in this process, when the vaccine was approved in the UK, some of the many factors and some of the transportation companies involved in there, were attacked, had a cyber attack take place. So that just indicates to you, you know, how important it is to make sure that security, both from a cyber and from a physical standpoint, are in place to make sure that the transportation or the vaccine are secure throughout the entire process. Joshua Aelick So I wanted to ask early in the rollout process, some regulators, including the EASA and FAA, were concerned that there could be issues in flight safe, dry ice evaporated Suddenly, like a large quantity of it. Did anything like that ever happen? And if it didn't happen, how did you or others plan around it to ensure that it didn't happen in the first place? Nathan De Valck Well, it actually happens all the time. If you if you put dry ice and it's frozen co2, so if you put it in a box, it's sublimates. So it, it changes from a solid state stochastic. And it pushes out the oxygen. So it basically changes the composition of the atmosphere. And it's potentially dangerous for her for the crew of the aircraft, unless there's a good ventilation system in the aircraft. And that's exactly what all the aircraft operators had to do in collaboration with aircraft manufacturers, they calculated the exact sublimation rates of the of the dryers in a specific packaging. And then they looked at how much of that that gas can be can be evacuated through the existing ventilation system. And as a result of that, they they increased the maximum dryers limitations on the aircraft and it's different aircraft type. Emir Pineda That's exactly right. And I'll just add just one thing is that what occurred early on is several carriers around the world asked for, you know, to have that dry ice limitation changed. So they basically went to the regulators, the FAA and others, the European authorities as well, to get a What did you call it, an increase in the number and the level of dry ice that the aircraft could carry. So that was something that several carriers did and were granted. Joshua Aelick thanks again to Emir Pineda, Frank van Gelder, and Nathan De Valck for joining me on this episode of On Air with air cargo world. To hear more about Pharma.Aero's role in ensuring a successful vaccine rollout. Be sure to check out the mini-feature in this month's digital issue of air cargo world. Great things come in cold packages. Special thanks also to our listeners and readers, download and listen to this episode at AirCargoworld.com as well as on iTunes and Spotify.

Listen: Pharma.Aero on COVID-19 vaccine transport security

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