b'4American Journal of Transportation ajot.comCOVID vaccines: logistics challenges and solutionsBy Peter Buxbaum, AJOTThe development and test- edged that some vaccines will ing phases for COVID-19 vac- requirecold-storageinvest-cines appear to be entering thements in some countries.home stretch. Bringing a vac- Gettingthemedication cinetomarketinearly2021intotheveinsofpatients would shatter all speed recordswill present yet another chal-for vaccine development. lenge. Colarusso said J&J has Thenextchallengewillcontractsaroundtheworld becomedistribution.Deal- todelivervaccinestocen-ingthediseaseadecisivetralgovernmentdistribution blow will require inoculatingpoints,whileTanyaAlcorn, 70% of all humans, or aboutaglobalsupplychainvice 5.5billionpeople,attwopresident at Pfizer, said that doses a pop. According to athe company also has a plan recent DHL report, this cam- todistributevaccinesto paignwillrequire200,000points of use. palletshipments,15-millionPfizer has also developed cooling-boxdeliveries,andpackaging that can maintain 15,000 cargo flights. atemperatureof-75Cif Oceancarriersandsea- (SOLUTIONScontinued ports may have a role in vac- on page 7) DHL reports that this campaign will require 200,000 pallet shipments and 15-million cooling-box deliveries.cinedistribution.Westand by to support the state and the regionwhethervaccinesare cominginorgoingoutvia sea, said Eric Casey, CEO of GT USA Wilmington, which runs the Delaware port. We will have plugs ready to go to keep vaccines at proper tem-peratures.Weinformedthe governorthatweareavail-ableasfirstrespondersto handle vaccines.Maersk recently announced apartnershiptodistributea vaccinebeingdevelopedby the U.S. company COVAXX, which is currently conducting clinicaltrials.Maersksaidit will oversee all logistics activ-ities,includingpackingand shipping, via air or ocean. COVAXX said its vac-cine design will allow the use ofexistingcold-chainstor-ageanddistributionchan-nels.Johnson&Johnsons vaccine will also not require handlingatthebottomof the frozen chain. J&Js vac-cine is being developed on a platform developed for HIV, Zica,andEbolatreatments. Wehaveshowngoodsta-bility at -20C for ten years, saidRemoColarusso,a supplychainvicepresident at Johnson & Johnson.Buttherearecurrently more than 250 vaccines being developed around the world, someofwhichwillrequire temperatures as low as -80C, according to the DHL report. Thisposesnovellogistics challengestotheexisting medicalsupplychain,the report said.Clearly, the more conven-tional the distribution, the less stress it will put on global cold chains.ClaudiaRoa,aDHL life science and healthcare vice president,saidchallengescan be overcome with good plan-ning. We have been talking tothemanufacturersforfive months,shesaid,andwe have been preparing solutions dependingonvolumesand temperatures.Roaacknowl-'