With over 270 million people spread across a country made up of more than 17,000 individual islands, it's hard to overstate the importance of aiding Indonesia as COVID-19 cases surge.
In the face of a global vaccine supply shortage, the Indonesian government and healthcare systems are actively exploring ways to get the virus under control. For a country with a population that lives in some of Asia's busiest urban centers and most remote areas on the planet, equitable distribution of vaccines is a challenge.
UPS has committed to shipping 13.8 million vaccine doses into Indonesia, making it the largest in-kind gift for COVID-19 vaccines funded by The UPS Foundation to date.
"This is another great example demonstrating the power of public-private partnerships in accelerating the global effort to supply vaccines to high-risk and vulnerable communities," said Joe Ruiz, vice president of social impact and The UPS Foundation shortly after the first shipment arrived in the capital Jakarta on July 16.
"The emergence of highly transmissible variants makes equitable access to vaccines critical for everyone's safety and well-being. Our team and partners are humbled to coordinate the first of many shipments into Indonesia to help stop the virus from spreading," Joe said.
The first shipment to the country, as well as future shipments, will be delivered with UPS Healthcare's cold chain expertise to PT Bio Farma. This state-owned pharmaceutical company was appointed by the Indonesian government to lead the procurement and domestic distribution of vaccines to dosing sites across the country.
"The most important factor in shipping this kind of vaccine is ensuring it's constantly kept at temperatures between two and eight degrees Celsius," said Anita Li, UPS's vice president for freight forwarding in North and South Asia.
"Our advanced cold chain storage and package tracking capability allow us to monitor the contents of each shipment every step of the way. And with the support of in-kind transportation from The UPS Foundation, we're proud to be making another positive and meaningful contribution to the global fight against the pandemic."
UPS has delivered over 400 million COVID-19 vaccines globally and is on track to deliver at least 1 billion vaccines by the end of 2021.
About UPS Healthcare
UPS Healthcare delivers unparalleled healthcare logistics expertise to its customers around the world. UPS Healthcare has 11+ million square feet of cGMP and GDP-compliant healthcare distribution space globally. Services include inventory management, cold chain packaging and shipping, storage and fulfillment of medical devices, and lab and clinical trial logistics. UPS Healthcare's global infrastructure, its UPS® Premier visibility service, its track and trace technology, and its global quality system are well-suited to meet today's complex logistics demands for the pharmaceutical, medical device, and laboratory diagnostic industries.
