FedEx Express has begun shipping the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine on behalf of McKesson Corp to dosing centers throughout the US.
The company has shipped millions of COVID-19 vaccines since US distribution began in mid-December 2020 and is prepared to scale up to accommodate anticipated growth in volume throughout the spring and summer.
Nearly three months after COVID-19 vaccine distribution began, FedEx has shipped COVID-19 vaccines and supply kits to administration sites across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C. COVID-19 vaccine volume is split evenly with FedEx moving approximately half the doses allocated by the federal government.
“As vaccine production ramps up and more vaccines are approved, we expect to see a significant uptick in COVID-19 vaccine and supply kit volume moving through our network in the weeks and months ahead,” said Don Colleran, president and CEO for FedEx Express.
“The manufacturers are getting approval to ship COVID-19 vaccines with greater temperature ranges and varying dosing allotments, which means more packages moving to more places through our global network.”
FedEx Express will transport the new COVID-19 vaccines and kits of supplies for administration of the vaccine, using its FedEx Priority Overnight service supported by FedEx Priority Alert advanced monitoring – the same process used for all COVID-19 vaccines packed out by McKesson Corp. and Pfizer Inc.
In addition to widespread distribution throughout the US, FedEx is delivering COVID-19 vaccines to US military bases overseas for the Defense Logistics Agency, and is working closely with the Canadian government and healthcare companies to ship COVID-19 vaccines to all 13 Canadian provinces and territories.
“Over the past three months we have demonstrated the power of our network as we deliver safely and reliably with an average delivery time of less than 20 hours,” said Richard W. Smith, regional president of the Americas and executive vice president of global support for FedEx Express.
“Because we are able to ship to every ZIP code in the US, we can deliver to rural, suburban and urban destinations throughout the country within 24-hours while tracking the packages from start to finish in real-time as they move through our network.”
Over the past year, FedEx Express has globally shipped nearly 65 kilotons of personal protective equipment including more than two billion masks.
The company has committed $4 million in cash and in-kind transportation support to nonprofits serving communities in the US and around the world including Direct Relief, International Medical Corps, and Heart to Heart International.
