Zipline announces Pfizer partnership

Vaccine supply has been and continues to be a core challenge to ensuring equitable access around the world. However, as more supply becomes available, resolving distribution challenges becomes paramount.

Zipline has partnered with Pfizer, to test and develop an end-to-end distribution solution for COVID-19 vaccines. Our solution, enabled by our on-demand automated delivery networks, will safely and reliably transport COVID-19 vaccines at scale to help enable rapid and equitable access to vaccines from all manufacturers in countries where Zipline operates around the world.

Many COVID-19 vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, require maintaining precise  cold chain temperature before being administered to patients. The extensive and costly infrastructure and processes required to reliably maintain cold chain throughout the supply chain pose a significant challenge to safe, fast, and equitable global vaccine distribution. 

As part of the collaboration, Zipline and Pfizer have partnered to develop a system that can be used to safely distribute any vaccine. Zipline’s on-demand delivery system will enable medical providers to only order the supply that they need, reducing waste to expiry. 

Zipline has successfully distributed tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines supplied by the COVAX facility to Ghana since March 2021, and has delivered over 2.5 million routine vaccines since 2019. Ghana, the first African to receive vaccines through the COVAX Facility, currently has four Zipline Distribution Centers, with plans to expand to eight this year, ultimately reaching thousands of health facilities serving over 85% of the country’s population.

Zipline was founded with a focus on delivering blood supplies, and has delivered vital cold chain medical products for years. This partnership with Pfizer will build on Zipline’s current capabilities in cold chain and ULT cold chain distribution.