
DP World and P&O Ferries offer to transport COVID vaccines to UK for free
Pan-European ferry
and logistics company P&O Ferries, owned by DP World, has offered to
transport COVID-19 vaccines into the UK free of charge.
UK first Western nation to authorize the COVID-19 vaccine developed by
US Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The United Kindom
has become the first Western nation to authorize the COVID-19 vaccine developed
by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The UK Government
has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine, which is expected to be enough to
vaccinate 20 million people.
“We stand ready to
support the Government in getting all the necessary vaccines into the UK,” a
spokesperson for DP World said in a statement.
We are willing to do this work for free should we be asked to do so:
spokesperson for DP World
“What’s more, we
are willing to do this work for free should we be asked to do so, to help play
our part in getting the UK through the pandemic as fast as possible.”
Pfizer and
BioNTech have submitted their vaccine candidate to the US Food and Drug
Administration as well as the EU’s European Medicines Agency (EMA) for
approvals, which are expected by the end of December.
The two-shot
vaccine has been developed in a record time of 11 months and the primary
analysis after three study stages involving 42, 000 people indicates that it is
95% effective.
UK move regarded as the likely beginning of the end of the pandemic
The landmark move
by the UK government is being regarded as the likely beginning of the end of
the pandemic which claimed the lives of almost 1.5 million people across the
globe.
Dubai-based port
operator DP World acquired P&O Ferries for a purchase consideration of GBP
322 million ($ 421 million) in 2019.