Operated by UPS and its subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward, the drones are delivering vaccines from Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem to one of the health system’s family medicine practices located at Piedmont Plaza, around a one mile [1.6km] drive by car.
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 to 8 degrees Celsius, and a temperature monitoring device that monitors the vaccine’s temperature while in transit.
The customized cold chain packaging adheres to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on the handling, storage and transportation of the COVID-19 vaccine.
And the logistics company said its drone airline received a first-of-kind approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to carry alkaline and lithium batteries, which are needed to power temperature monitoring devices required by the CDC for COVID-19 vaccine transport.
The autonomous, battery-powered drones produce zero operational emissions and are subjected to less vibration than packages moving by ground transport, said UPS. “They require less insulation and can utilize gel packs instead of dry ice since they spend less time in transit.”
Thes program paves the way for drones to become a meaningful link within highly-specialized cold chain logistics, argues Dan Gagnon, vice president of global marketing for UPS Healthcare.