RAF on mission to vaccinate entire Ascension Island in one swoop

Aircraft failure almost derailed the ambitious jab campaign

RAF personnel load a batch of the Covid-19 vaccine onto an aircraft
RAF personnel load a batch of the Covid-19 vaccine onto an aircraft
(Image credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

The RAF has launched a mission to make the population of a British Overseas Territory the first in the world to all be vaccinated against Covid-19 in one hit.

In a project described by The Telegraph as a “daring race”, an RAF A400M Atlas yesterday airlifted a cargo containing 2,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Brize Norton military base on Oxfordshire to Ascension Island, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The ambitious plan is part of Operation Broadshare, a British military push to fight the pandemic overseas, and is aimed at keeping the island Covid free.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But the latest launch was almost derailed when a faulty plane caused a 24-hour delay.

“Timing of the vaccine is crucial” as once removed from refrigeration, the jabs must be administered within three days, the paper continues. But “with just 72 hours to transport the precious cargo”, the A400M Atlas “failed to start” in a malfunction that “crew on the ground were unable to sort”.

The cargo was speedily repacked onto a second plane, before departing the next morning, with 48 hours left on the clock. Flying Officer George Cox, who helped prepare the aircraft, said: “We are always agile and mobile in our responses, repurposing all of the equipment we have for defence and that does extend through to the cargo hangar.”

The jet landed on on the island’s “battered airstrip” on Wednesday, with front-line medical workers and the island’s five police officers then among the first to get their shots, The Sun reports. The remainder of the island’s 900 residents, “many of whom are military personnel or spies”, are due to get their vaccines within days.

Wing Commander Lee Roberts, who oversaw the delivery flight, told The Telegraph that “the guys are really proud, they are buzzing”.

“You could just call it another logistical move but it’s more than that due to the vital strategic importance to the government,” he added.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

 
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.