Photos show how the first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine got from Michigan into the arms of healthcare workers

Thomas PalliniDec 18, 2020, 20:15 IST

Transporting Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.Michael Clevenger - Pool and MARK LENNIHAN/POOL/AFPGetty

The first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine left Michigan on Sunday bound for hospitals across the US.
A fleet of trucks and airplanes, accompanied by armed guards, ensured that the vaccine was quickly and safely transported.
The first shot was given in New York on Monday, just days after the Food and Drug Administration's emergency authorization on Friday.

The first COVID-19 vaccine was given emergency authorization in the US on Friday and no time was wasted in getting it to the public. Just three days passed before the first person was inoculated, kicking off a nationwide vaccination campaign that aims to end this pandemic in the new year.

Pfizer's vaccine was first transported to the US in late November and brought to the company's Kalamazoo, Michigan facility. Shippers descended on the facility over the weekend with trucks, airplanes, and armed guards to get the first doses to hospitals across the country quickly and safely.

By Monday morning, the vaccine was already ready for its first recipients, with New York's Northwell Health declaring itself the first to give the drug to frontline workers. Air cargo carriers, passenger airlines, and over-the-road freight companies had been preparing for this effort for months by overhauling their pharmaceutical transport capabilities and creating protocols specifically for transporting the Pfizer vaccine.

Here's how Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine gets from Michigan into your bloodstream.

Pfizer's Kalamazoo facility was a beehive of activity over the weekend following Friday's emergency authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration.

Pfizer's Kalamazoo, Michigan facility. JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty

Pfizer's Kalamazoo facility was a beehive of activity over the weekend following Friday's emergency authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration.

The authorization was expected and Pfizer had been preparing for a nationwide rollout.

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Workers spent the weekend preparing for the first shipments, which departed on Sunday.

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Just weeks prior to the authorization, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 brought the first doses of the vaccine into the US from Brussels, Belgium on a chartered flight.

A United Airlines Boeing 777-200. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Just weeks prior to the authorization, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 brought the first doses of the vaccine into the US from Brussels, Belgium on a chartered flight.

United had overcome one of the largest limitations to flying Pfizer's vaccine, its excessive dry ice requirements, with the help of the Federal Aviation Administration. by receiving authorization to carry five times the normal amount of dry ice that the airline could normally.

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United had overcome one of the largest limitations to flying Pfizer's vaccine, its excessive dry ice requirements, with the help of the Federal Aviation Administration. by receiving authorization to carry five times the normal amount of dry ice that the airline could normally.

Dry ice is considered a dangerous good in aviation as it sublimates into carbon dioxide, which can incapacitate the crew if not properly managed.

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Each shipment is packed with over 20 kilograms of dry ice to keep the vaccine at its ideal storage temperature of -94 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Any higher and the vaccine can become ineffective and every dose counts towards ending the pandemic.

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Its temperature requirement is among the largest hurdles in transporting the Pfizer vaccine, with competing vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson having less strict requirements.

Morry Gash - Pool/Getty

Its temperature requirement is among the largest hurdles in transporting the Pfizer vaccine, with competing vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson having less strict requirements.

The first step of the transportation process is then loading the shipments onto refrigerated trucks.

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Some trucks will go to the nearby airport while others will travel across the country. Trucks have a higher tolerance for dry ice shipments since the truck is separate from the trailer.

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Some trucks will go to the nearby airport while others will travel across the country. Trucks have a higher tolerance for dry ice shipments since the truck is separate from the trailer.

Then, it's time to finally hit the road!

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In just a few hours, these vaccines will travel across the US in preparation for the first inoculations the next day.

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US Marshals provided escorts for the vaccine while on the road.

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The vaccine is a huge target for theft due to the drug's high importance.

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But the first convoy encountered no issues along the route to Lansing's Capital Region International Airport and Grand Rapids' Gerald R. Ford International Airport where aircraft awaited to take the vaccine onwards.

JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty

But the first convoy encountered no issues along the route to Lansing's Capital Region International Airport and Grand Rapids' Gerald R. Ford International Airport where aircraft awaited to take the vaccine onwards.

Kalamazoo has its own airport but those in Lansing and Grand Rapids are the closest with service from the large cargo airlines like UPS Airlines and FedEx Express.

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US Marshals were also on hand at the airport as the massive containers were loaded onto the Boeing 757-200F, alongside standard boxes.

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But while flying with iPhone orders and Amazon purchases, airlines have stated they'll give the vaccine priority.

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