Camille Diggs works at the FedEx Express Hub at the Memphis airport, where the Pfizer vaccine will travel on its journey to worldwide destinations.
“We’ve been kind of operating at peak level since the pandemic started,” Diggs said. The most important piece of the puzzle is moving the vaccine safely, which means storing it in ultra-cold temperatures.
The FedEx Express Hub’s cold chain center at the Memphis Airport was among the first in the company’s network of similar facilities across the world. It’s able to hold vaccines in temperature-controlled rooms which is being upgraded to hold the Pfizer vaccine at the right temperature.
Equipping it, once done, to both store and ship the vaccine and its accompanying medical kit, in rapid fashion. Medical distributor McKesson, with a plant in Memphis, said it has enough kits for 44 million people.
“We’ve been in communications with different agencies working towards a plan,” Diggs said. This is a 12-billion-dollar effort in the race to hopefully stem the staggering number of people dying from COVID-19.
The first people to get the vaccine, once approved, will be vulnerable populations like the elderly and healthcare workers. Experts warned that even with the vaccine, it could be well into next year before the vaccine is widely available.
FedEx sent a statement to FOX13:
“As healthcare companies develop and prepare to distribute vaccines against COVID-19, we recognize that shipping COVID-19 vaccines is complex and critical work with many moving parts. FedEx is working closely with the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD), and our healthcare customers on vaccine distribution plans as a part of HHS’ Operation Warp Speed. We are confident in our strong relationships with our healthcare distribution customers as we work through the preparation and prioritization of these deliveries.
The FedEx network is well positioned to handle these shipments with our temperature-control solutions, real-time monitoring capabilities and a dedicated healthcare team to support the storage, customs brokerage and express transportation of vaccines and bioscience shipments around the world. Our healthcare team is well-versed in the transportation and handling of vaccine shipments. For more than a decade we have shipped flu vaccines each flu season.
With the largest cargo fleet of airplanes, FedEx Express has the flexibility and customized solutions, including charter flights, refrigerator trucks and trailers, warehousing, thermal blankets, and temperature-controlled containers, to help safely move temperature sensitive shipments, such as vaccines and other bioscience shipments, around the world.
Over the past three years, we have added more than 10 secure cold chain facilities across our global network. At present we have more than 90 cold chain facilities across the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe and plan to open additional facilities in coming years. To complement our existing cold chain capabilities in support of the vaccine distribution, we are also exploring a combination of solutions including stationary freezers, temperature-controlled ocean containers, and refrigerated trailers.
Working with the FAA, FedEx has significantly increased our capability to carry dry ice aboard our cargo aircraft, allowing us to service more healthcare shippers. On average, we now transport approximately 500,000 dry ice shipments a month.
In addition to the vaccines themselves, FedEx is also working closely with the healthcare industry to transport other supplies critical to the distribution of vaccines such as vials, syringes, and personal protective equipment.”
