A local Christian organization is doing its part to help distribute vaccines to remote regions around the world.
Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) uses aviation and technology to help support the physical and spiritual needs of isolated people. In March, they started delivering vaccines and other medical supplies to communities only accessible by air travel.
Brad Bell, the CEO of the Guelph chapter of MAF, said they are very pleased to be involved with these deliveries.
“Delivering vaccines is right on mission for us, and in a way, it’s even better because it helps them not get sick,” he said.
Bell explains MAF is capable of storing and transporting vaccines by plane through a method called cold-chain delivery.
“When you’re delivering stuff that requires a constant temperature and you monitor that temperature, we call that cold-chain delivering,” said Bell, “So we have some of the capability already, we were delivering some test results and medical supplies for Ebola in the Congo.”
With this technology, they are able to maintain cold temperatures needed for vaccines like Moderna and Pfizer.
“In January, we made a decision that we would begin to enhance our cold-chain delivery across all of our countries,” said Bell, “So we have been busy getting ready for that.”
“We’re going to get busier and busier as the summer goes on.”
He adds not all vaccines will require cold-chain delivery, so the logistics for these deliveries may vary.
“It will depend on what vaccines we are required to carry.”
Recently, the Guelph chapter worked with MAF Lesotho to have four Cessna TU206G planes travel to Lesotho, a mountainous region encircled by South Africa, where they delivered 200 vaccines to healthcare workers and clinical staff.
A release from MAF says the vaccines were distributed between two settlements, 140 vaccines in Lebakeng and 60 in Kubunayne.
The vaccines sent to Lesotho were secured by the Lesotho government and Lesotho Doctors Flying Service. MAF anticipates recurring missions to Lesotho as their government works to secure more vaccines for its residents.
MAF completed a vaccine mission in Indonesia the week prior. In that mission, MAF pilots carried several shipments of the COVID vaccine and medics to three different regions.
Bell explains they work with NGOs and government agencies to organize deliveries and secure vaccines. Having partnerships with over 30 countries across the world, Bell said each has different rules and regulations.
“Depending on the country they’re in, they may have already chosen a particular vaccine that they want their citizens to receive,” he said, “So we need to be ready to deliver any of them.”
Bell said the number of vaccines they can deliver is also based on availability.
“We don’t anticipate encountering an issue where there are so many that we don’t have enough crafts or airplanes to deliver them,” he said, “We expect that the challenges will always be that there aren’t as many vaccine doses available.”
Started in 1945, MAF has grown to have around 1,500 pilots and over 2,000 national workers. They also have a fleet of 135 planes, ready to be called upon to serve those in need.
“It’s a really, really, very capable organization from a logistics point of view,” said Bell about MAF, “We have a lot of people, a lot of aircraft… and we have been doing this for a very long time.”
Those who would like to help contribute to MAF’s mission can donate online at mafc.org.
