As FedEx continues to distribute Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, the candidate vaccine will be distributed in a few days.
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective, according to knowledge published Tuesday through the US Food and Drug Administration. And you’re about to download an FDA emergency approval this week.
According to Moderna, approximately 20 million doses of the Moderna vaccine will be distributed in the United States until the end of the year and many of those deliveries will be made through Memphis Logistics FedEx.
Since Sunday, FedEx has been among the carriers transporting the vaccine from Pfizer’s Michigan production facility to the FedEx Express World Hub in Memphis for distribution nationwide. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the first batch of shipments was enough to vaccinate 2. 9 million people, USA TODAY reported.
FedEx completed its first delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday morning and the Pfizer vaccines were shipped on scheduled FedEx freight flights.
“Explicit fixed-time transportation of critical shipments is precisely what our FedEx Express network designed for when it was introduced in 1973,” Richard Smith, regional president of FedEx Express for the Americas and executive vice president of global support, said in a statement. Nearly five decades later, we are true to our founding project by offering critical vaccines opposed to COVID-19. “
In total, the US government has not been able to do so. But it’s not the first time Aiming for 40 million doses by the end of 2020, Vice President Mike Pence said on a scale in Memphis to discuss the distribution plan for Operation Warp Speed.
The distribution of the Modern vaccine will follow the precise trace of sending pfizer doses.
Pfizer ships its vaccines through transportation companies such as FedEx and UPS. Modern will rely on health care distribution giant McKesson to move the vaccine from production sites to injection sites.
Doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine will be sent in bulk to McKesson’s centralized distribution centers, in accordance with the company’s vaccine distribution plan. At those centers, McKesson will package the vaccines and deliver them through carriers such as FedEx and UPS.
“The distribution of the physical vaccine from the plant to the front will be done through health care distributor McKesson, who works with FedEx and other partners who are shipping actually,” Azar said in Memphis with Pence.
Order the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the number of vaccines to be sent to which destinations and at what time, according to the distribution plan.
“A formula has been put in place to request vaccines from the CDC from McKesson Distribution Centers,” said Julie Swann, director of Fitts’ Department of Engineering and Industrial Systems at North Carolina State University. “They do it every year for the Children’s Vaccine Program, so there are formulas in position. “
McKesson will use FedEx and other carriers to deliver the vaccine. FedEx has worked with McKesson in the past on a plan to distribute H1N1 vaccines, and a McKesson representative said in 2016 that the company sends vaccines through FedEx.
McKesson distributes the Pfizer vaccine, but still plays a role in the distribution of Pfizer, combining the vaccine with management kits.
With regard to vaccine shipments, Pfizer would possibly have sought to reduce the transit time of its temperature-sensitive doses through distribution centers from the equation, said Swann, who studies health care and chain sources.
“It also means that Pfizer wants to play a greater role in this logistical effort, even if it may not be its main competence,” he said.
Although the respective Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require a bloodless room, Pfizer has stricter requirements: the Pfizer vaccine should be stored at temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius, minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, and during transport, insulating containers filled with dry snow help keep Pfizer vaccine doses without blood.
Moderna’s vaccine, on the other hand, requires less than four degrees Fahrenheit for long-term shipping and garageing. Modern said in a press release that the use of under-zero temperatures “is a less difficult and more established distribution and garage approach than freezing and maximum pharmaceutical distribution corporations have the ability to buy and ship products at -20 degrees Celsius (-four degrees F) globally. “
The needs of Moderna’s vaccine garage are for health care providers, pharmacies and medical offices across the country to meet them, Swann said.
FedEx executives said the company’s purpose was to deliver COVID-19 vaccines on a temporary and reliable basis, however, it has a developing portfolio of “bloodless chain” services, which includes more than 90 bloodless chain facilities that are used to purchase temperature-sensitive products sometimes delaying the delivery process.
FedEx is expanding its network of freezers capable of maintaining temperatures as low as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit, Smith told a US Senate subcommittee last week.
Storage temperature needs will come into play for spaces that temporarily administer all assigned vaccine doses, Swann said. After five days, a Pfizer vaccine wants additional dry ice or a freezer at very low temperatures.
“It relies on the rural environment in relation to the city, because it is: can you administer all your doses in a short time?”She said. “
Reaching more rural areas with COVID-19 vaccines is a fear for FedEx because the company has the ability to serve all US zip codes. Smith said at the hearing.
“With this network capability, whether you live in Chicago, Illinois or Murdo, South Dakota, we need to deliver those shipments at a set time and we are very confident in our ability to do so,” he said.
Max Garland covers FedEx, logistics and healthcare for The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at max. garland@commercialappeal. com or 901-529-2651 and on Twitter @MaxGarlandTypes.