Military planes to fly Covid vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit
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Military planes to fly Covid vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit
In The Guardian/Observer today.
Military planes to fly Covid vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit.
Do we have any refrigerated aircraft? 
Military planes to fly Covid vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit.
Tens of millions of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine manufactured in Belgium will be flown to Britain by military aircraft to avoid delays at ports caused by Brexit, under contingency plans being developed by the government.
Both the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and senior sources at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to the Observer on Saturday that large consignments would be brought in from 1 January by air if road, rail and sea routes were subject to widely expected delays after that date.
Civil servants from the MoD and military planning staff have recently met officials from the government’s vaccine taskforce to discuss the plans, with priority being given to speedy transfer of the doses. “We will do this if necessary. The plans have been discussed,” said a DHSC source.
The move shows that ministers are ready for severe disruptions at ports and commercial airports whether or not there is a Brexit deal, and are not prepared to allow the vaccine to be held up in any circumstances.
Both the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and senior sources at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to the Observer on Saturday that large consignments would be brought in from 1 January by air if road, rail and sea routes were subject to widely expected delays after that date.
Civil servants from the MoD and military planning staff have recently met officials from the government’s vaccine taskforce to discuss the plans, with priority being given to speedy transfer of the doses. “We will do this if necessary. The plans have been discussed,” said a DHSC source.
The move shows that ministers are ready for severe disruptions at ports and commercial airports whether or not there is a Brexit deal, and are not prepared to allow the vaccine to be held up in any circumstances.
Climb sharpish to height, open the windows ...........
Dont need anything clever. The packs last 15 days if unopened. Even with my navigation skills that isnt a challenge.
Once in the UK the vaccine should be distributed overnight and even when removed from the packs it is stable in an ordinary fridge for 5 days. The 50 hub hospitals can feed the 185 NHS hospitals each of whom should be able to vaccinate 100 people an hour. So we can consume 148,000 vials a day with no special transportation and ship over up to 15 days worth or 22 million at a time. Of course Pfizer will almost certainly release the vials in batches to avoid delay
The cold storage will be an issue for Africa and other countries with great distances and poor electricity supplies. Not for the UK, Europe or the US. The issue in the UK is that the vaccine is still sitting in a 'secret location' unused while 500 people a day are dying and 15,000 a day are getting infected.
Once in the UK the vaccine should be distributed overnight and even when removed from the packs it is stable in an ordinary fridge for 5 days. The 50 hub hospitals can feed the 185 NHS hospitals each of whom should be able to vaccinate 100 people an hour. So we can consume 148,000 vials a day with no special transportation and ship over up to 15 days worth or 22 million at a time. Of course Pfizer will almost certainly release the vials in batches to avoid delay
The cold storage will be an issue for Africa and other countries with great distances and poor electricity supplies. Not for the UK, Europe or the US. The issue in the UK is that the vaccine is still sitting in a 'secret location' unused while 500 people a day are dying and 15,000 a day are getting infected.
In The Guardian/Observer today.
Military planes to fly Covid vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit.
Do we have any refrigerated aircraft?
Military planes to fly Covid vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit.
Do we have any refrigerated aircraft?
If the vaccine needs to be kept cool in transit, I guess refrigerated trailers will be faster, easier to put in C17/A400’s in a roll on /roll off type operation. Can you get a typical 40ft road trailer in a C130?
Just remember - if it wasn't for Brexit, the vaccine wouldn't yet be approved for use in the UK. You'd still be waiting for the EU bureaucrats to decide...
Not true about Brexit
https://www.instituteforgovernment.o...cisions-brexit
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So rather than contract the work to an aviation industry crippled by COVID-19, this abysmal apology for a government wants to bypass the problems caused by its own EU exit lunacy by using military flights....
Quite ridiculous - but at least the vaccine should now arrive OK.
Quite ridiculous - but at least the vaccine should now arrive OK.
Any EU member State’s own approval agency can act independently. There’s a lot of misunderstanding in this area, but a conversation for another thread.
This German / US vaccine is just the first. Hopefully there’ll be another 4 or 5 in short order.
This German / US vaccine is just the first. Hopefully there’ll be another 4 or 5 in short order.
This is what we - DHL - do every day, everywhere. It’s a challenge but it’s doable. Also every other big logistics company worldwide. FedEx, UPS etc. There’s a CNN interview with CEO DHL Express online (incompetent IT person, can’t do a link). Do not underestimate the scale of worldwide air freight.
This is what we - DHL - do every day, everywhere. It’s a challenge but it’s doable. Also every other big logistics company worldwide. FedEx, UPS etc. There’s a CNN interview with CEO DHL Express online (incompetent IT person, can’t do a link). Do not underestimate the scale of worldwide air freight.
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Given the temperature restrictions, surely transport by lorry/ship is problematic compared with by air: so the ports clogged by Brexit line is nonsense then?
And as already asked, why are we using military aircraft when so many commercial airliners are crying out for business?
And as already asked, why are we using military aircraft when so many commercial airliners are crying out for business?
In the governments defence they big brained this problem of lorry tailbacks for incoming frieght buy almost completely stopping customs and immigration checks at the UK border. Trucks will only be searched at random and rest waved through to avoid queue's. Outgoing into the EU is going to be the tail backs apparently
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Given the temperature restrictions, surely transport by lorry/ship is problematic compared with by air: so the ports clogged by Brexit line is nonsense then?
And as already asked, why are we using military aircraft when so many commercial airliners are crying out for business?
And as already asked, why are we using military aircraft when so many commercial airliners are crying out for business?
As for using commercial air transport, well quite reasonably, they would expect to be remunerated. Unfortunately, Riki, having spent a not inconsiderable amount of revenue now finds it time to start recouping this.......... one way or another ( see not actually mentioning a reduction in funding of £1bn for the railways for example ) and as military aircraft are, on one sense "free ", then their use would be an incentive to utilise them,