Subscribe!
The Vaccine is here…this day in history
Every day a milestone. Every day a little ray of hope.
From preliminary application of the first vaccine to the FDA, to the rewarding of the emergency approval late on a Friday night.
Saturday spent in the packing process with dry ice, deep freezers, and bar coding packages. And lot of anticipation.
Then came Sunday morning. The packing process gave way to the shipping process. UPS and FedEx rolled in and out to the Pfizer plant, in their shiniest semis and it was off to the airport.
On the East Coast, it was Louisville, Kentucky’s UPS facility, the largest shipping facility in the world – with 155 miles of conveyor belts – to get it to all the airplanes and trucks revving their engines. Pilots being interviewed about the honor of flying the vaccine – comparing it to a “Life Flight”.
Being guarded all along the process by US Marshals and National Guard, the packages were sorted and headed out throughout the country Sunday night and early today. Some flying out, some being driven (the Kentucky facility is 15 hours from Providence).
UPS is handling the East Coast – Fed Ex the West Coast. Exact locations where vaccines will be stored and delivered is being kept confidential out of an abundance of caution. Because in these times, security is a realistic concern. Each box contains over 900 individual doses.
Today, in parts of the US, the first shots will be given. We’re not sure as we publish this morning what the details of that Rhode Island momentous event will be – but it probably will be today. We don’t know where and when, but we’re pretty certain that it will be for either a front line medical worker or a nursing home resident.
Put your own mask on first
Media reports are that senior leadership in the US will be among the first to receive their vaccinations. Like the advice you hear on an airline, put your own mask on first. We’re experiencing a potential problem when front line leadership can be all impacted at once, when our top health official – Dr. Alexander-Scott tested positive (asymptomatic by all reports) and our Governor and many of the top leadership team are in quarantine. So, senior leadership, congress, critical leaders, step right up.
Hope and USA, USA
All the excitement is something positive. We should embrace it. Because since March there have not been many moments of light. For now, for this day, the photos, the applause of people by the side of the road, the pilots’ pride, the roar of the planes and rush of the trucks – the whole logistical ballet is rooted in our penchant and dependence as a people on – hope. Throw in a huge dose of patriotism, too – with that rare, but familiar extra excitement something like a moon launch. Millennials and those younger may not have experienced that in this country – not in quite this way.
Capitol Carbonic produces dry ice, a necessary component to distribute pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine – they are a family owned company based in Baltimore, Maryland. In Cambridge, MA, it’s Acme Ice, whose owner calls the dry ice they are shipping all over the world, “white gold”. Just two of the small companies working 24/7 to fill all the orders for the dry ice needed for safe delivery.
FedEx and UPS will team up to deliver the vaccine by plane and delivery vehicle from coast to coast. FedEx will handle the west coast. UPS will handle the East Coast.
Today we wait for the next step of the journey, recognizing that the vaccine is a few months away from access to any one of us – as we step aside for all of us – who need it most. And this is no time to let our guard down.
145 sites will be receiving vaccines on Monday – 425 on Tuesday – 66 on Wednesday – 40 million doses will be delivered by the end of December. CDC recommends the 2nd shot be given 21 days after the first.
They say summertime will see the beginning of the end of these dark times. Enjoy the small moments of hope – because there has been so many large moments of despair. And they’re not over – not yet.
While America has been put through its trials more in the last year than in our recent lifetimes – it is moments like this that allow us to collectively agree that we are the greatest country on Earth. Operation Warp Speed produced a vaccine in a nano-second of its usual time. As we recognize and mourn over 300,000 deaths – know that hope is on the way – the first vaccine is here. And that’s not all…
This week we expect Cambridge, Massachusetts’ Moderna to apply for their approval – entering the market as another bright ray of hope. Behind it is Astra-Zeneca. Behind that are others. And – for those who have survived – our lives await. Forever changed.
Thank you, President Trump!