Emirates flies record volumes of vaccine to Brazil amid health crisis

Early yesterday morning, an Emirates SkyCargo 777F arrived at Belo Horizonte Airport (BHZ) in Brazil with more than 25 tonnes – or 1.8 million doses – of vaccines flown in from Milan. The occasion marks both the largest shipment of vaccines the carrier has ever moved in a single flight and the largest reception of one shipment of pharmaceutical cargo at BHZ in the airport’s history.

When asked about the reason for the special service, Emirates told Air Cargo World, “We executed the transport for a customer,” but was unable to disclose further details.

Likely, the freighter was chartered in response to the current outbreak of disease in the northwestern region of Brazil near the southern border of Venezuela, which has suffered political and economic turmoil over recent weeks. As of Aug. 2, there have been 1,053 reported cases of the measles in Brazil, including five deaths, and 1,900 cases of diphtheria in Venezuela, a preventable but deadly bacterial infection.

Today, Newsweek reported that the Brazilian government is planning to vaccinate 11 million people for the measles in response to the outbreak, referencing a conference call in which Gilberto Occhi, the Brazilian health minister, claimed that the Venezuelan government has “ignored Brazilian offers of assistance and vaccines” and “had not replied to requests for information to assess the extent of the epidemic.”

Peter Robbe, manager of BHZ, said the airport is expanding capacity for the reception of temperature-sensitive shipments. So far, BHZ has “invested in a new configuration of the cargo terminal and has installed two new refrigerated chambers to triple cool-chain storage capacity to 3,350 cubic meters,” he added.

IAG Cargo is also participating in the effort, shipping more than 5 tonnes of the urgently needed diphtheria vaccine within one week in an attempt to curb the outbreak of diphtheria.

Emirates SkyCargo transports an average of 80,000 pharma shipments per year across its network of 160 destinations. In the last few years, the carrier has invested in its cool-chain facilities, complying with GDP standards, and expanded its pharma-corridor program, which connects destinations while maintaining strict end-to-end temperature control.