Operations have begun at an Abu Dhabi vaccine distribution hub primed to deliver millions of doses each year as part of a mission to improve access to health care across the region.
The logistics centre, developed by authorities in the capital in partnership with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, has been hailed as a strategic milestone for the emirate.
The facility, based at Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (Kezad) and operated by Rafed, a subsidiary of PureHealth, is now up and running after receiving its first shipment.
It will manage a portfolio of more than 20 vaccines for both adults and children to support efforts to boost immunisation rates and limit the spread of a number of diseases.
It features advanced cold-chain and smart distribution technology to preserve vaccines in temperature-controlled environments while being stored and when distributed to other parts of the world.
The hub is connected to Etihad Cargo’s PharmaLife network, which links Abu Dhabi to more than 100 international destinations and offers time-sensitive, temperature-controlled freight services tailored for pharmaceutical products.
“The operational launch of Abu Dhabi’s regional vaccine hub signals our readiness to serve the region with speed, precision, and reliability,” said Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of Abu Dhabi's Department of Health.
“More than a logistics milestone, this reflects our long-term vision to position Abu Dhabi as a trusted partner in global health where innovation and resilience translate into timely access and measurable public health impact.
“Through this hub, we are making vaccines more accessible to communities across borders and strengthening the UAE’s leadership in preventive, future-ready healthcare.”
The hub has been developed under a major global partnership also including Abu Dhabi Investment Office Abu Dhabi Ports Group and Etihad Cargo.
Boyd Chongphaisal, vice president and general manager for GSK Gulf, spoke of the significance of the launch of the drug manufacturer's first distribution centre in the Middle East and its fourth in the world.
“The launch of our vaccine distribution hub in Abu Dhabi represents a shared commitment to health security, innovation, and access,” he said. “Through our strategic partnership with DoH and local stakeholders, we are combining scientific excellence with operational strength to ensure timely, efficient delivery of vaccines across the region.”
The partnership between Abu Dhabi and GSK builds on firm foundation developed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In June 2021, Abu Dhabi became the first city to receive Sotrovimab, a GSK-developed drug that eased the symptoms of the most critically ill Covid patients. More than 23,000 people benefited from the drug, and the partnership opened new doors for research collaboration.
The UAE cemented its status as a key global player in healthcare logistics during the pandemic, as governments sought to secure swift and efficient methods to deliver essential vaccines.
Abu Dhabi's Hope Consortium oversaw a 19,000-square-metre cold and ultra-cold storage facility in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, which housed tens of millions of Covid-19 vaccines being delivered around the world.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
