WSJ Report Provides Clearest Overview to Date of China’s Vaccine Logistics Operation That’s Taking Shape in Africa

File image of an Ethiopian Airlines pharmaceutical cargo plane that will transport vaccines from China to Africa. Image via Aliresearch.

A trio of Wall Street Journal reporters in Asia and Africa have compiled what is the most detailed report of China’s burgeoning vaccine logistics and distribution operation that’s now ramping up from hubs in Ethiopia and Dubai among other places. 

Last November, Ethiopian Airlines and Cainiao, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, unveiled plans to build an air bridge linking China and Africa to provide a secure cold chain to distribute hundreds of millions of jabs. Earlier this month, the two companies announced that the first flight of the new partnership transited through Addis Ababa on its way to Chad to deliver a shipment. But other than those two announcements, little else is known about the partnership or how it will operate.

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by Eric Olander

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