Remember just this weekend we were saying no drone is a wrong drone when need arises?

This, after Beninese drone services company, Global Partners used a DJI Matrice 300 to prove that medical deliveries in the west African country could be done, and could save thousands of expecting mother from dying due to pregnancy related complications.

Apparently, this thinking outside the box is not confined to only Benin.

In South Africa, another drone services start-up has decided to amplify government efforts to encourage people to register for COVID-19 vaccination and help eradicate a pandemic that has severely disrupted lives since it started spreading in December 2019.

Literally.

Integrated Aerial Systems have attached a hailer to one of their DJI M600 drones, and flown it around the rural communities of the Western Cape province, encouraging people aged 60 and above to heed the government’s call and register at nearby clinics for vaccination.

The voice on the hailer was speaking in Setswana, one of the local languages in South Africa.

“The Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) – has recently been on a drive to encourage citizens to register for COVID-19 vaccinations as part of the South African Government’s vaccine awareness campaign,” IAS said on one of its social media platforms. “Traditionally, in rural communities and villages this was done by a vehicle driving up and down with a loud hailer. However, doing this from the air ultimately allows for coverage of all areas in a shorter period.

“Using a DJI M600 pro mounted with a loud hailer, we sent out calls to communities to head to the local clinic to register for their vaccination.”

Obviously, we are no expert on COVID-19, but we do understand that there has been a hesitancy to take the pandemic vaccine by many people around the world, mainly because of conspiracy theories surrounding the inoculations, and also because of the side effects some types of the vaccines have caused.

But they are the best defence so far that the world has against the disease though; which is why people are being encouraged to take them.

Hence; the hailer on an M600.

This is a civic duty for IAS, who have made a name for themselves in their commercial applications of drone technology in agriculture mainly – for which they left their mark on the second edition of Generation Africa’s GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize.

They have also used the M600 for other industrial purposes, which include aerial surveying and photogrammetry, stockpile and other inspections, as well as professional video filming.

At the height of the COVID-19 crisis last year, Rwanda’s Charis UAS also used a hailer to spread information about the disease in the rural areas.