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.
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.
“ 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.”
The first doses are expected to be rolled out across the UK next week.
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.
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.