The international air body says travel curbs may hinder a more effective vaccine rollout when the time comes
IATA published a fresh set of guidelines for vaccine transportation yesterday, warning that:
"If borders remain closed, travel curtailed, fleets grounded and employees furloughed, the capacity to deliver life-saving vaccines will be very much compromised."
Further noting that existing immunisation campaigns such as those planned out by the WHO and UNICEF have struggled in the wake of limited air connectivity.
As such, IATA is recommending for governments to reopen key passenger routes again backed by robust testing in preparation for the mass vaccine distribution in the future:
"There are several more months for governments to go through the planning cycle, leaving enough time to get passenger networks safely resumed, looking at safe travel corridors (and) mutual acceptance of testing procedures."
Well, this helps with IATA's agenda as they represent the airlines themselves and almost the entirety of global air traffic.
It makes sense to some extent as cargo capacity for air freight has also taken a hit amid the grounding of passenger flights. However, if routes are reopened too early with there being a significant gap before the vaccine rollout, the world is risking a massive wave of infections across many regions in the meantime.
