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United Airlines began operating charter flights on Friday to move shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine ahead of a mass inoculation program expected to begin in late December, according to a report.
The flights are the first step in a global supply and distribution network, which is preparing to spring into action when regulators approve the vaccine.
The airline received special permission from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to fly with larger amounts of dry ice, to keep the vaccine cold.
The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
The specific chartered routes being flown were not specified by the Wall Street Journal, which reported the news, and it is not known whether they were domestic US or international flights.
But it was revealed that United intends to fly cargo flights between the Belgian capital, Brussels, and Chicago’s O’Hare airport to support vaccine distribution, according to a Nov. 24 letter from the FAA seen by the Journal. .
Brussels and Chicago are both convenient international airports for Pfizer’s plants in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Puurs, Belgium, where final assembly of the vaccine takes place.
Chicago is also close to Pfizer’s distribution site in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, which is being expanded in preparation for the launch of the vaccine.
The company has another distribution site in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Pfizer also plans dozens of cargo flights and hundreds of truck trips each day once the authorities give approval.
United Airlines is reportedly transporting Pfizer’s vaccine in preparation for distribution
COVID-19 vaccine vials are sorted at a Pfizer facility in Puurs, Belgium
United Airlines has obtained permission to fly a larger quantity of dry ice for cooling
Vaccine doses for Europe will be produced at sites owned by BioNTech, Pfizer’s German partner, as well as at Pfizer’s manufacturing site in Belgium.
In the United States, it will be produced in Michigan, at the Kalamazoo plant.
With an area of two square miles, it is the largest manufacturing site in the world for Pfizer.
An estimated 2,200 Pfizer employees work in the city of Portage, where the plant is located on the outskirts of Kalamazoo, home to 53,000 people.
The components of the vaccine will travel through the United States.
It will begin with raw material production in St. Louis, Missouri.
The drug substance will then be purified in Andover, Maryland, before being shipped to Portage, Michigan.
At Portage, the drug is combined with other raw materials.
The bulk vaccine will then be transferred to an aseptic fill line where it will be placed in a sterile vial and capped. It will then undergo a 100% inspection before it is transferred to the packaging lines, ”according to a Pfizer press release.
Pfizer’s facility in Portage, outside Kalamazoo, Michigan, is the largest in the world.
This photo provided by Pfizer shows Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine storage facility in Kalamazoo
Workers at the freezer farm where Pfizer plans to store vaccine doses in Kalamazoo
The FAA said in a statement Friday that it was supporting the ‘first mass air shipment of a vaccine’ and is working with airlines to safely transport COVID-19 vaccines.
Albert Bourla, Pfizer CEO, said the company began laying the foundation for its supply chain in March when it began developing vaccines.
“Ensuring that more than 1 billion people around the world have access to our potential vaccine is as critical as developing the vaccine itself,” he said last month.
Pfizer said at the time that it was preparing for distribution should the vaccine be licensed, with hundreds of thousands of doses already in the company’s warehouses in the United States and Europe.
The company plans to occupy cargo space on an average of 20 flights a day on planes operated by United, FedEx and DHL.
They will bring vaccines as close to vaccination centers as possible, ranging from large medical facilities to remote rural hospitals.
Airlines are also in line to handle the next stage of the vaccine journey, transporting the doses to locations close to where they will be administered.
Total delivery time, from the distribution center to the point of use, is expected to average three days, the company reported.
United had asked the FAA to be allowed to carry more dry ice than is normally allowed on flights, in an attempt to keep the vaccine cold.
The FAA said it would allow United to transport 15,000 pounds of dry ice per flight, which is five times what is normally allowed; dry ice is controlled on passenger aircraft due to concerns about carbon dioxide leaks, which may not be detected in the air.
Pfizer has created suitcase-sized boxes filled with dry ice to keep vaccine doses cold, the newspaper reported.
It means they can ship the vaccine faster, by eliminating the need for large containers to monitor temperature.
Pfizer’s vaccine should be stored at incredibly low temperatures in a facility like the one shown.
Pfizer’s vaccine, one of several in development, is giving hope to billions of people around the world.
In the United States, the FDA will meet on December 10 in an emergency session, to be broadcast live, where they will discuss the authorization of the use of the vaccine.
Pfizer requested emergency use on November 20.
How much vaccine is available and when is a changing target, but initial supplies will be scarce and rationed.
Last week, Gustave Perna, director of operations for Operation Warp Speed, the US government’s program to coordinate the distribution and administration of the drug, said 4.1 million doses would initially be distributed.
Gustave Perna was due to retire this year: instead, he has been entrusted with an enormous and vital task
Pfizer has been testing every step, from delivering the vaccine to opening Pfizer’s special GPS-tracked containers and storing the vaccines, Perna said.
The vaccine will be free for Americans. It was unclear whether those with green cards or in-country visas would be included.
Discussions are brewing about who will pay. The federal government is covering a significant portion of the cost, but states say they need additional funds to pay for the associated costs of monitoring and administering the vaccine.
Perna said they were aware that 6.4 million doses weren’t even enough to vaccinate the nation’s 20 million healthcare workers, let alone the US population of 330 million.
But he said “a steady rate” of additional doses will be delivered as manufacturing capacity increases with each successive week.
Approximately 25 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine may be available in December, 30 million in January and 35 million more in February and March, according to information presented to the National Academy of Medicine in late November.
Recipients will need two doses, three weeks apart.
The CDC will meet Tuesday to decide recommendations on who should get it first, based on the data and known side effects.
Healthcare workers and vulnerable populations, such as those living in nursing homes, are likely to receive the first doses, followed by older people.
The general population is believed to receive the vaccine around April.
