Air Freight Prices For COVID-19 Vaccines ‘Outrageous’ As Prices Have Increased Due to More People Buying Things Online

One person’s loss is another person’s gain. 

Though the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating on many businesses around the world, some are thriving as a result of the outbreak.

This includes the healthcare industry, e-commerce companies, and manufacturers of toilet paper.

Now that two promising vaccines of around 95% efficacy have been developed, there’s another sector that stands to gain: the air cargo industry.

Air Freight Prices For COVID-19 ‘Outrageous’ As Prices Have Increased Due to People Buying Things Online

Air freight prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks, due to an increase in online shopping amid lockdowns.

Some airline carriers are reportedly seeking “outrageous” prices to fly dry ice and other medical equipment before Christmas.

These sky-high prices will make distribution of vaccines to low- and middle-income countries a tougher task, as some of these countries have grounded passenger air services, and may rely on charter flights.

Paul Molinaro, chief of operations support and logistics at the World Health Organisation (WHO), told Reuters that air cargo prices have been on the rise “especially since November”.

He gave an example of a price quote just received for a dry ice shipment, which is used to cool lab reagents.

According to Molinaro, the price for such a shipment would usually be US$4-6 per kilo.

But now, the unnamed cargo company is charging US$105 a kilo.

That’s around a twentyfold increase.

But why have prices suddenly shot up?

Well, it’s all thanks to the iPhone and PlayStation 5.

Molinaro said an increase in e-commerce amid lockdowns may be to blame for the rising prices.

And with the introduction of the iPhone and PlayStation 5, more people are making pre-Christmas purchases than usual.

“So we have air freight rates coming out of China going up because of the introduction of the new iPhone, because of the introduction of PlayStation 5 and because of the fact that products are in high demand anyway,” he said.

However, some believe this is merely due to the crazy Christmas demand, and that the soaring freight rates should ease early next year, as countries prepare to receive large shipments of vaccines.

WHO Hoping For 500 Million Vaccine Doses in First Quarter of 2021

WHO said it hopes to have half a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines available for distribution in the first quarter of 2021, as part of the global COVAX initiative.

COVAX is aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, once they are licensed and approved.

172 countries are engaged in discussions to potentially participate in the initiative.

Last Friday (4 Dec), the Singapore government said it would donate US$5 million (S$6.67 million) to COVAX help distribute Covid-19 vaccines to people in low- and lower-middle-income countries.

In 2019, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spent US$35-40 million on international vaccine freight for 2.43 billion doses for immunisation campaigns against polio and other diseases.

With freight prices soaring, many are fearing the worst for poorer countries.

However, UNICEF is negotiating lower rates with airlines for the distribution.

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