heats up for Cool distribution
AIRPORT VOICE, NOVEMBER 2020 13
FedEx seems to have been
ahead of the curve as it was 4
1/2 years ago of the opening
of FedEx’s $25 million Cold
Chain Center at the FedEx Express
hub at Memphis International
Airport. It wasn’t originally
equipped with ultra-cold
storage, as low as -94 to -112 degrees
Fahrenheit, the requirement
for some vaccines under
development. FedEx is now
fixing that by buying superfreezers.
It is anticipated that
both Pfizer and distributor
McKesson will use the FedEx
facilities during transportation.
It was among the first
handful of facilities to open in
what’s now a network of 90 FedEx
cold chain facilities in the
Americas, Europe, Asia and
Australia.
Airfreight logistics experts
have said the lack of specific
information from pharmaceutical
manufacturers about
their vaccines, dosing levels,
types of vials and packaging,
and the amount of dry ice required
makes it difficult to
plan the right aircraft, warehousing,
cold storage equipment
and personnel for the
job.
Executive Director of the
Airforwarders Assn. said,
“The upcoming vaccine distribution
will be the “mission
of the century,
We are assuming that the
vaccine will be temperature
sensitive. The first wave will
have very stringent shipping
specifications, dictated
by the need to remain frozen
at every step from origin to
destination. Those requiring
ultra-cold temperature handling
will undoubtedly see
the need for extensive climatecontrolled
warehousing on
the ground before and after
flights. Some of these vaccine
candidates may also require
two doses, thereby making the
logistics requirement more
complex.
Our primary concern at
this point is dealing with
dangerous goods regulations
which strictly limit how much
dry ice–essentially solid carbon
dioxide- can be carried
on airplanes because it turns
to vapor as it warms. Expect
dry ice to be in peak demand
throughout the vaccine shipping
process.
New York-based drugmaker
Pfizer Inc has built
an extensive supply chain to
handle the delivery of its anticipated
COVID-19 vaccine.
A supply chain hub in Kalamazoo,
MI, has 350 large freezers
to enable the company to
deliver up to 100 million doses
this year and another 1.3 billion
in 2021. Pfizer is making
arrangements with its logistics
partners so it can move
quickly if its vaccine receives
approval from FDA and from
regulators in other countries.
Tanya Alcorn, Pfizer’s
supply-chain vice president,
says: “It’s the biggest-ever
vaccination campaign. If
we get the FDA approval, we
will be able to ship the vaccines
very shortly after.”
Pfizer is working with Germany’s
BioNTech SE on one
of several experimental COVID
19 vaccines currently
in late-stage testing. Pfizer
says apply for the vaccine’s
emergency-use authorization
by late November.
The company is expected
to rely on its refrigerated
storage sites at its Kalamazoo
facility and another in
Puurs, Belgium, as well as
dozens of cargo-jet flights
and hundreds of daily truck
trips. Distribution centers
in Pleasant Prairie, WI, and
in Karlsruhe, Germany, are
equipped to provide additional
storage capacity.
Johnson & Johnson began
the final stage of clinical trials
for its coronavirus vaccine,
which may only require
one shot instead of two.
This experimental vaccine
may have considerable advantages
over some of its competitors,
experts said. It does not
need to be stored in subzero
temperatures, and may require
just one dose instead of
two.
Eli Lilly In October, the
company announced that it
had reached a $375 million
deal to sell 300,000 doses of the
treatment to the U.S. government.
Eli Lilly said Monday
that it will begin shipping the
treatment immediately to AmerisourceBergen,
a national
distributor, which will then
distribute it on behalf of the
federal government.
The government’s Warp
Speed has identified McKesson
as it’s source of logistics.
McKesson’s Warp Speed pact
comes as the Trump administration
looked to flesh out a
production and distribution
framework for one or more approved
vaccines by the end of
the year.
The government reached
a $1.5 billion work order with
Moderna for 100 million doses
of its mRNA-based COVID-19
shot—after spending almost
$1 billion in development costs
for the vaccine. The pact also
includes an option for an additional
400 million doses.
The Moderna order follows
a suite of Warp Speed
deals in recent weeks: Sanofi
and GlaxoSmithKline scored
$2.1 billion to develop and deliver
100 million doses; Pfizer
and BioNTech’s would rake in
$1.95 billion for its shot; and
Novavax snared $1.6 billion
from the initiative. Johnson &
Johnson also locked in a deal
for $1 billion for 100 million
doses of its shot, and Astra-
Zeneca is on the hook for 300
million doses in a $1.2 billion
deal.
UPS is in discussions with
U.S. Health & Human Services,
the Operation Warp
Speed team and our partners
to think through various
complexities, and explore
how to minimize supply chain
gaps and challenges across
the nation and globally. UPS
Healthcare recently brought
online more than 1.5 million
additional square feet of
cGMP healthcare distribution
space in key global markets,
including the UK, Hungary,
Shanghai and the U.S., and
installing two freezer farms
in Louisville, Kentucky, and
Roermond-Venlo, the Netherlands,
for vaccine storage and
distribution.
As is seen, there are hundreds
of moving parts to the
transportation logistics for all
the potential FDA approved
vaccines. At the moment there
are no publicly shared details
since this is a very competitive
market. Nut with the U.S.
and world community anxiously
awaiting the first vaccine
to help stop the spread,
all hands are on deck working
fervishly for distribution solutions.