UPS Flight Forward delivers COVID -19 vaccine to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

 UPS Flight Forward delivers COVID -19 vaccine to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

UPS begins delivering COVID-19 vaccines with Matternet drones to a hospital in North Carolina. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical center is believed to be the first in the country to receive COVID-19 vaccine deliveries by drone.

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and its healthtech business enterprise operated through the Innovation Quarter, iQ Healthtech Labs, are taking COVID-19 vaccination efforts to new heights with drone deliveries – the first COVID-19 vaccine drone delivery program in the country. 

This new initiative operated by UPS and its subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward expands Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s existing drone program, which was launched in July 2020. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 50  percent of vaccines are wasted globally every year, largely due to temperature control failure, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said in a statement.

“The ability and ingenuity to add an innovative layer to our health care supply chain by transporting COVID-19 vaccines via drone provides us with additional rapid delivery options for these time- and temperature-sensitive vaccines,” said Conrad Emmerich, senior vice president of supply chain at Atrium Health.“The iQ Healthtech Lab team is committed to partnering with industry leaders, like UPS, to better advance healthtech solutions into the marketplace.”

When transporting the COVID-19 vaccines, the Matternet M2 drone is outfitted with a special cargo box that contains Cold Chain Technologies’ customized PCM Gel solution, a temperature-sensitive packaging mixture that maintains the COVID-19 vaccine at 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

India- based RattanIndia Enterprises recently to invest in US based drone logistics platform Matternet.

It also uses a temperature-monitoring device that monitors the vaccine’s temperature while in transit. The customized cold-chain packaging follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on the handling, storage, and transportation of the COVID-19 vaccine, the companies said.

The autonomous flight is overseen by UPS Flight Forward’s specially trained operators, who are stationed onsite to inspect the Matternet M2 aircraft prior to takeoff and scan the airspace for air traffic.

Everdrone chosen to deliver an AED defibrillator by drone

 Everdrone chosen to deliver an AED defibrillator by drone

Everdrone AB, the advanced drone operations for public safety and emergency response, was chosen as the service provider for the pilot. Everdrone will pilot the delivery of an AED defibrillator by drone in Helsinki in September 2021. 

As a part of the pilot, information and data is gathered about how a drone could accelerate the start of the life-saving measures. Also, the CO2 emissions of the drone-delivery compared to other modes of transport will be looked at.

The pilot is a part of the ‘Carbon neutral drone service solutions in Southern Finland’ project piloting and promoting carbon neutral drone services. At the same time, the project wants to develop new business models for the needs of various industries. The project is funded from the European Regional Development Fund and the project ends at the end of 2021.

DRONAMICS and DHL partner for cargo drone deliveries

DRONAMICS and DHL partner for cargo drone deliveries

DHL and DRONAMICS have got into an agreement to develop solutions and offer same-day cargo drone deliveries to customers using DRONAMICS’ drone delivery network and Black Swan drones. 

Both companies are discussing mutual exclusivity for middle-mile drone deliveries in selected industries and markets. In addition, DRONAMICS’ goal to become carbon-negative by 2027 and direction to operate on sustainable biofuels in the future will play a part in helping DHL achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

“Innovation is a key part of DHL’s DNA. We are constantly exploring new technologies to bring value to our customers, and we believe that cargo drones will be an element in the next generation of transportation in logistics. DRONAMICS is a pioneer and leader in the field of cargo drones and our collaboration will help to open up opportunities for urgent, sensitive and time-critical deliveries. We are excited to pilot the use of the Black Swan in customer operations in the near future,”said Matthias Heutger, senior vice president, global head of innovation and commercial development at DHL.

“We are incredibly excited that DRONAMICS has been selected by DHL, the world’s largest logistics provider as their first middle-mile drone partner, with a partnership that provides mutual exclusivity in selected industries and markets. This partnership has the potential to generate €1.86 Bn to DRONAMICS’ revenues annually, with plans underway to build and operate over 4,000 cargo drones to support the partnership in the coming years,” said Svilen Rangelov, co-founder and CEO of DRONAMICS.