Taking on a very pertinent topic around the area of “development of Vaccines for COVID19 & their respective distribution”, PIMA conducted a webinar on this very interesting and challenging discussion on an effective and sustainable supply chain for the distribution of COVID 19 vaccine, on the 28th of November 2020. 

President PIMA, Mr. Denzil Perera welcomed the audience. The introduction of the moderator and  the panelists was done by Vice President PIMA, Ms. Shiranthi Theverapperuma, whilst the  moderating was competently handled by PIMA member Ms. Gayani de Alwis (Global chairperson WiLAT  Immediate Past Chairperson CILT Sri Lanka | Founding Chairperson & Advisor WiLAT Sri Lanka | Board Member WCIC. Our Panelists were Mr. Channaka de Alwis (President Chartered Institute of Logistics – Sri Lanka / Deputy Director , Abans Logistics Pvt Ltd), Mr. Nalin Kannangara (Managing Director  Emergent Life Sciences Pvt Ltd/Director Emerchemie (Ceylon)  NB Ltd), Dr. Sudath Samaraweera (Director of Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health Sri Lanka) , Mr. Nikki Frank ( Chief Executive Officer – DHL Logistics – India).

Questions to the panelists were based on their respective fields and they shared their expertise and experience in handling the transportation, the vaccine and the complexities around it, with various options available to address the complexities.   

It was an interactive session with the audience, which gave them opportunity clear many concerns and ambiguities around Sri Lanka’s readiness for the distribution of COVID 19 vaccine. Webinar was well attended to and was concluded with a vote of thanks by event chair Ms. Nilufa Nizam.