> The conditions in Vanuatu make vaccine distribution a tough challenge. Today, shipments are flown from the three major islands (which have cities and airports and such) to small rural islands in 9-seater planes. When a plane rolls to a stop on the grass airstrip, it’s met by someone from the local health clinic—but that’s assuming that one of the few trucks on the island is available and in working order.

The health worker picks up the vaccines, which are packed in ice, and hurries back to the clinic to stash the precious vials in a refrigerator—but that’s assuming the fridge and the clinic’s solar power system are working. Any breakdown is a serious problem, because spare parts can take weeks to arrive. And the whole operation is very expensive.

It sounds like they're going for JIT delivery, deliver the vials to the remote hospitals as they're using them - instead of transporting a supply that the remote hospital would store. This would obviate remote refrigeration, removing numerous situations where the supplies could go bad. They could get an email from the remote hospital and send a drone with a few insulated vials right away.

If the drone payload is big enough, they could replace the airplane and trucks too, saving a lot on fuel and maintenance costs.