Amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, Zuellig Pharma found itself in a unique position to help turn the tide against the virus that has locked down the populace for two years.

In early 2021, the pharmaceutical group teamed up with American biotech firm Moderna to make the latter's COVID-19 vaccines available across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Zuellig Pharma is also working with the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) group, which in turn leads a Philippine consortium of private sector entities procuring Moderna vaccine doses for their employees and the communities. To recall, the government allowed the private sector to source their own vaccines, provided that they enter into "tripartite" agreements with the national government and the vaccine manufacturers.

Moderna was the first US-made vaccine to arrive in the Philippines with an allocation for the private sector.

"We foresee that more private sector players will join the ICTSI Foundation consortium to procure more COVID-19 vaccine Moderna doses especially with the projected demand for booster shots and third doses, and the continuing inoculation drive for children and adolescents. Postpandemic, we hope to see this partnership evolving through digital transformation," Raymund Azurin, Zuellig Pharma senior vice president for corporate affairs, says in an email interview with Inquirer.

Harnessing technology

Zuellig Pharma sees tremendous potential in "eZTracker," its blockchain-powered solution that verifies vaccine authenticity and monitors vaccine movements across the entire supply chain and cross-border activity.

Moderna vaccines are stored in Zuellig's pharma-grade cold chain facilities and delivered through its passive packaging system, the eZCooler solution, which secures temperature-sensitive medical supply during the last mile of transportation.

Zuellig Pharma uses internal cold chain facilities with multiple storage chambers and freezers that can accommodate temperature requirements ranging between -80 degrees Celsius to +25 C to ensure vaccine quality.

"We are looking at building five more cold chambers this year and create a national distribution center to contribute in deploying COVID-19 vaccine Moderna doses and boosters more effectively and efficiently to the general population," Azurin says.

Logistics challenges

Due to mobility limitations alongside heightened demand, the logistics industry experienced bottlenecks in delivering vaccines to their respective markets.

"The current disruption in the global supply chain is expected to remain, and companies will need to consider logistics risk management in their operational algorithms in the years to come," says Joel Consing, ICTSI senior vice president and chief financial officer.

"Ongoing challenges should encourage port operators and all the actors in supply chain logistics to become more collaborative with multiple stakeholders to address the unprecedented global demand for health-related supplies, especially COVID-19 vaccines. This is an opportunity for logistics companies to share their respective technologies, accelerate their digitalization efforts, and make sure to further refine their services to help in clearing out backlogs and bottlenecks built by the pandemic," he adds.

This pandemic has underscored the importance of cross-collaboration among private sector players to address logistical bottlenecks, Consing says. Through their partnership, both ICTSI and Zuellig Pharma have been able to utilize each other's strengths to efficiently deliver the needed vaccines to target local government units (LGUs) and communities, he notes.

"From ICTSI's end, we remain highly vigilant toward emerging variants in the different jurisdictions in which we operate and the protocols that we instituted to protect both our employees and customers remain in place," Consing says.

Living with the virus

Will Moderna COVID vaccine be eventually available over the counter? Azurin says it will likely remain as a prescription product to ensure proper medical supervision.

"Once we pivot our COVID-19 management from a pandemic to an endemic approach, we anticipate that full authorization will be granted to all available COVID-19 vaccines, which will encourage more LGUs and members of the private sector to procure their own vaccines and booster shots for the residents and employees, respectively. This means that a tripartite agreement framework will no longer be necessary," he says.

But he says vaccine hesitancy may still be the most pressing concern.

ICTSI's Consing agrees that vaccine hesitancy and "nationalism" will remain major causes of concern.

"In terms of supply-chain logistics and global demand for vaccines, we expect an increase in demand for health-related supplies which will also affect supplier capacity to manufacture these vaccines to address the demand. Increasing demand means higher number of shipments that need to be transported from producer over the consumer, which will pressure governments and the private sector to upgrade their ports, container terminals and cold-chain facilities to fully accommodate this demand shock," Consing says.

A prospective shortfall in vaccine supply as cases surge in the West may also affect the country's capability to procure more vaccines.

"Demand shocks and vaccine nationalism have affected the supply chain logistics industry and we expect that this concern will continue to endure in the near future. The pandemic has also accelerated supply chain visibility, digitalization and automation as more companies are digitalizing their services to address increasing international demand for vaccine supplies and medical technology tools," he says.

ICTSI looks forward to expanding its partnership with Zuellig Pharma to make vaccine access a reality, even in the postpandemic period.

"Together with our networks across the Asia-Pacific, we expect that this partnership will become more focused in creating new opportunities in building a pandemic-resilient Philippines with digital health and infrastructure solutions. These solutions will help the Philippines to become more responsive and address immediate pandemic shocks, thereby accelerating our transition toward normalcy in the near future," Consing says. INQ