US begins transportation of COVID-19 vaccine to distribution points around the country

Cargo planes and trucks with the first US shipments of coronavirus vaccine fanned out from FedEx and UPS hubs in Tennessee and Kentucky on Sunday en route to distribution points around the country, launching an immunisation project of unprecedented scope and complexity.

The first of the inoculations are likely to be at vaccination sites closest to any of the 145 initial shipment destinations nationwide, or those nearest the FedEx Corp or United Parcel Service cargo centres that are relaying deliveries from the factory.

Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky suggested the very first injections of the vaccine will be given in his state, home to the UPS Worldport sorting facility in Louisville – one of two distribution command centres. The other is the FedEx air cargo hub in Memphis, Tennessee.

The coronavirus vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, gained emergency-use approval from federal regulators late on Friday.

The monumental undertaking began early on Sunday with trucks carrying dry ice-cooled packages of vaccine – which must be kept at sub-Arctic temperatures – from Pfizer’s facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to UPS and FedEx planes waiting at air fields in Lansing and Grand Rapids.

From there, the delivery jets whisked the shipments to UPS and FedEx’s respective cargo hubs in Louisville and Memphis, for distribution on planes and trucks to the first 145 of 636 vaccine-staging areas across the country. A second and third waves of vaccine shipments were due to go out to the remaining sites on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care homes will be first in line to get the inoculations of a two-dose regimen given about three weeks apart.

Public health officials have warned Americans not to become complacent about wearing masks and avoiding crowds in the meantime.

More than 100 million people, or about 30 percent of the US population, could be immunised by the end of March, US Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr Moncef Slaoui said in an interview with Fox News.

The massive logistical effort is further complicated by the need to transport and store the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at minus 70 Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit), requiring enormous quantities of dry ice or specialized ultra-cold freezers.

Slaoui said the US hopes to have about 40 million vaccine doses – enough for 20 million people – distributed by the end of December. That would include vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna. An outside FDA advisory panel is scheduled to consider the Moderna vaccine on Thursday, with emergency use expected to be granted shortly after.

UPS and FedEx package delivery drivers are giving the vaccine priority over holiday gifts and other parcels. Both companies are providing temperature and location tracking to backup devices embedded in the Pfizer boxes, and tracking each shipment throughout its journey.

(Edits by EP News Bureau)