The UK Government are to utilise military aircraft for the transport of the COVID-19 vaccines so as to avoid potential backlogs at the border in the new year, according to a report.
The British Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to the Observer on Saturday that tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines would be brought to the country from Belgium from 1 January by air because road, rail and sea routes were expected to be congested after Brexit.
This is another sign that even the British government expects severe disruptions at ports and commercial airports after the transition period ends – whether or not there is a Brexit deal.
Besides transporting the vaccines by military planes, UK officials plan to import the vaccines via the express freight service that was set up to carry medicines and medical equipment by road, rail and boat to the UK in 2019, The Guardian writes.
However, military planes would be the safest and fastest means of transportation, because consignments could be directly taken military or other airports that are close to distribution centres established for the vaccine, explains the British daily.
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