On Sunday, December 13, temperature-controlled semi-trailer trucks operated by Boyle Transportation, a UPS partner, hauled the first Pfizer
By early January, the U.S. federal government’s Operation Warp Speed expects to distribute to the states about 20 million doses, a combination of the newly approved Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It’ll take a village.
A secure, temperature-validated semi-truck such as those being furnished by third-party logistic ... [+]
Count on another UPS distribution partner, Greenwich, Conn.-based XPO
Big shippers and various subcontractors, including Boyle and XPO, also participated in the second leg of the distribution effort, this one, Moderna’s, set into motion on Sunday, Dec. 20.
UPS and FedEx
It includes technologically advanced transportation specialists, commercial fleet telematics providers, third-party logistics firms, manufacturers, warehouse operators, as well as their rank-and-file freight handlers, drivers, and administrative personnel.
A government/private sector war-time-like mobilization has marshaled vehicles, custom cooling equipment, visibility software like GPS devices, temperature recorders (we’re not talking about mercury-laden thermometers) and dry ice – tons of it.
The nation's underappreciated supply chain has an often-ignored sub-niche – the so-called “cold chain” – which is being subjected to a herculean gauntlet, at peak season.
While some glitches have occurred, the cold chain has been rock solid, industry experts insist.
"On the one hand, in terms of the capabilities and the complexities involved, this is nothing special,” pointed out Ronald Leibman, partner and head of the Transportation, Logistics & Supply Chain group at McCarter & English.
Because, after all, he said, there is a longstanding U.S. vaccine supply chain, of which the cold chain is a key component, that is highly specialized, relying, for example, on temperature-validated trailers and automated telematics systems (integrated, multi-sourced, data-driven tracking/visibility systems); the whole industry-within-an-industry comes together every year for the distribution of flu shots.
What's remarkable about this current vaccine supply chain mission, Leibman said, is its “sheer magnitude, and that it’s occurring in parallel to the busiest season for shipping.
“It’s happening on a scale we've never seen."
Last week, some 2.9 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine was shipped (trucked, in large part) around the country in suitcase-sized thermally lined transport boxes (able to hold up to 5,000 doses) packed with two layers of dry ice. The custom cool boxes are each outfitted with their own GPS-equipped temperature sensors.
Government, healthcare and logistics officials anxious over the precious Pfizer cargo were able to continuously monitor miles to go – and integrity of product – in real time.
UPS enlisted Boyle (and its refrigerated tractors/trailers) and XPO (which maintains fleets with cold chain capabilities) for a convoy this week, a mission that included moving Moderna's vaccines from distribution centers operated by the OWS’s third-party distributor, McKesson Corp.
"We're experienced working with shippers and pharmaceutical companies on vaccine distribution,” said Katrina Liddell, president of Global Forwarding and Expedite at XPO. “Now it’s going to be on an unprecedented scale.”
The U.S. will need an estimated 350 million vaccine doses. Roughly 170 million flu shots got manufactured and distributed last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Except those shipments got delivered over the course of five months, from August through December.
Scaling and speeding up at the busiest time of the year – in a pandemic – is daunting, industry members say, but doable.
The Moderna vaccine makes the distribution logistics less complicated in that it can be stored in normal freezer conditions, as opposed to the Pfizer vaccine which requires ultra-cold storage, at about -70°C.
Typical refrigerated trucks, like those used to transport frozen foods, were never going to work, not for the Pfizer shipments which the pharma giant micromanaged in terms of the core logistics, using specially designed boxes and all of that dry ice.
Wes Wheeler, President of UPS Healthcare, has said that UPS began manufacturing its own dry ice. UPS expects to distribute as much as 70,000 pounds per day.
One of the nation’s largest dry ice companies is Radnor, Pa.-based Airgas. A subsidiary of France’s Air Liquide, the packaged gas gorilla operates 15 manufacturing sites and 60 distribution centers. After being tapped as a subcontractor by OWS, Airgas formed teams to figure out how much dry ice possibly might be needed, in different geographies, with different populations, one Airgas senior executive told The Atlantic.
Not every key player along the vaccine supply chain is feeling 100% confident.
Andrew Boyle, co-president of Boyle Transportation, speaking earlier this month at a Nevada Transportation Association meeting, described the enormous challenges of a compressed timeline, according to TransportDive.
"This is highly unusual," he said of the pharmaceutical industry going straight to ramp-up mode. "And, quite frankly, I'm very, very concerned."
Boyle has called on transport providers to work together on vaccine distribution.
Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, professor of health policy and management, City University of New York, is worried about the distribution effort becoming increasingly uncoordinated as it continues to expand.
“Many health care locations such as clinics and health departments around the country have limited resources and may not be able to readily purchase the equipment needed to store or carry vaccines while maintaining such low temperatures,” Lee said. “So there should be broad assessments of the cold capacity, or, in the case of the Pfizer vaccine, ultra-cold capacity. Otherwise, the risk is that vaccines will reach these locations and then go to waste or that these locations will not get vaccines.”
Negative perceptions have, fairly or not, already begun to fester in the opening phase of the distribution effort, prompting consternation about what the future might hold. No one is hitting the panic button. Numerous state health officials are, however, expressing frustration over inaccurate information regarding how many Pfizer doses would next be shipped; Pfizer has denied having any supply chain issues whatsoever. The top OWS official, Army Gen. Gustave Perna, took responsibility for miscommunicating, to the states, what they could expect in terms of vaccine allocations. Meanwhile, some isolated late shipments of the Moderna vaccine surfaced on Dec. 21. Asked by a cable news host about one particular incident involving 7,000 doses delayed by one day, Francis Collins, director, National Institutes of Health, said he was "astounded that there had not been more glitches."
Industry members are taking pride in doing what they can to make sure glitches are the exception.
At its Fort Worth, Texas distribution hub, XPO has been stockpiling special coolers in preparation for transporting vaccines to remote parts of the state.
“This past year has been difficult,” said Eric Ostrander, an XPO driver, via an email statement. “When I received the call to transport the Covid-19 vaccine, I was honored. I'm really proud to be a part of this."
Sarah K. Rathke, partner, Squire Patton Boggs, specializes in the supply chain space.
Rathke said the vaccine roll-out definitely pushes the envelope in terms of America’s cold chain distribution capabilities. She’s worried, and she’s calling for proactive vigilance.
However, all in all, she believes the system is up to the task.
“But I hope you ordered your holiday presents in October,” she said, only half kidding.
