JKIA Ready to Import Vaccines

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is ready to begin the importation of vaccines due to the cold storage facilities it has acquired.

The facilities are used for farm commodities such as fresh fruit and vegetables that must be kept cold before being loaded onto planes at the Airport.

The airport in Nairobi will find it easy to switch from handling fruits to importing vaccines, which need to be stored at low temperatures as well.

“The fortunate thing about Jomo Kenyatta is it has the biggest capacity within the East Africa region because of the nature of our trade,” Daniel Tanui, Managing Director of Mitchell Cotts, a major logistics company.

“Those horticulture facilities are refrigerated. It is easy to convert and use for an emergency.”

Companies and other governments around the world are racing to establish cold-chain storage and deliver systems for vaccines which must be shipped and stored at extremely low temperatures.

Daniel Tanui says Mitchell Cotts has applied for international certification by health authorities to handle the imports. He further added that it can handle vaccines that need to be kept at a temperature as cold as –(negative)30 degrees.

The company will modify its existing pharma unit at its Ksh2.7 billion facility at the airport, adding more cabinets to store the vaccines and enhancing security.