Delhi Airport ready for vaccine distribution

Distributing vaccines around India will pose plenty of logistical headaches given the size of the country, its vast population and number of coronavirus cases, now at more than 10 million. For its part, India’s busiest airport is “completely ready” to handle Covid-19 vaccines, according to Delhi International Airport Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, but there could be issues elsewhere considering more remote areas may not be equipped with sufficient equipment and containers. “One of the key challenges will be the availability of cold chain across India,” he said.

New Delhi’s airport will be the main handling point and has facilities to store 2.7 million vials of vaccine at 2-to-8 degrees Celsius, as well as cooling chambers that can keep temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius, Jaipuriar said.

“As soon as we get an indication on what’s going to be the flow, we will do the final tune-up and then we will be ready to go,” Jaipuriar said in an interview with Bloomberg News during a tour of the airport’s facilities on Dec. 22. He said there was also capacity to potentially export vaccines to nearby countries.