MP Alberto Costa has thanked some of the award-winning team responsible for the complex supply operation behind the biggest vaccine rollout in UK history.
The South Leicestershire MP visited Movianto’s vaccine distribution centre at Magna Park near Lutterworth, which is the central hub for Covid-19 and childhood vaccines in the UK.
At the height of the pandemic, the Movianto team, together with the UKHSA and the NHS Supply Chain, had to design – from scratch – a supply chain for the ground-breaking Covid-19 vaccines.
No one – anywhere in the world – had previously developed a vaccine supply network to take an extremely delicate medical product, which had to be stored at ultra-low temperatures – as low as -75c – to hundreds of different locations, virtually all at once, all around the country.
The Movianto team has since delivered more than 160 million doses of the vaccine to the frontline NHS. And the specialist healthcare logistics firm has won a prestigious award for its innovative lifesaving and ground-breaking work during the pandemic.
Recent data analysis revealed that the vaccine rollout is estimated to have saved at least 207,500 lives in England alone. And the death toll – so far – would have more than doubled without it.
Alberto said, “I was delighted to visit Movianto in order to see the tremendous work they have been doing throughout the pandemic to distribute huge numbers of the Covid vaccine.
“I am proud that the UK was one of the world leaders in rolling out our successful vaccination programme, and I am most grateful to the fantastic team at Movianto for their tireless work in delivering so many millions of vaccines to the NHS frontline.”
Movianto’s UK President, Paul Wilkinson, explained the complexity of the project, “I’ve worked in logistics for more than 30 years, and it’s safe to say the Covid vaccine operation has been the biggest challenge of my life.
“At the start, we didn’t even know the storage criteria; we weren’t aware of what the volume would be, and – as importantly – we didn’t know when the programme was likely to start.
“But we did know, we’d have to do it at break-neck speed, and we knew people’s lives would be relying on it. There was a lot of pressure on everyone.
“I’m extraordinarily proud of my whole team. They’ve had to be creative, resilient and tenacious to make it happen. But as our job is behind the scenes, it can be overlooked.
“It’s been wonderful for Alberto to come and see the operation and meet some of the people behind the scenes who provided the vital link between the vaccine manufacturers and frontline NHS.”
Around 100 people work at the Movianto vaccine distribution centre. These jobs were all new when the centre officially opened at the end of 2021.
