Truckers Ready to Help with COVID19 Vaccine Distribution

12/3/2020

How truckers will help with covid-19 vaccine distribution.

Drivers will help distribute corona virus vaccine

Truck drivers are ready and willing to help

Truckers are Ready to Deliver

Truck drivers “are ready and willing to help” with the distribution of upcoming COVID-19 vaccines according to the Vice President of the Florida Trucking Association.

Although COVID-19 vaccines are yet to be approved by the FDA, the government, military, and trucking industry alike are already looking ahead at distribution, and the logistics are still very unclear.

The FDA is scheduled to review Pfizer’s application for emergency use authorization of their vaccine on December 10th, while a review of Moderna’s application is set for December 17th. But even with the actual approval of the vaccine weeks away, Florida Trucking Association Vice President, Alix Miller, says that truckers are ready to lend a hand.

The American Trucking Associations has called on policymakers to remember the trucking industry’s essential status as a national COVID-19 vaccine distribution strategy is being formulated.

In letters sent to the White House, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, President Trump, and the National Governors Association, ATA asked that the trucking industry’s workforce be included in prioritized access pools along with other essential workers.

The letters point out the industry’s designation as essential by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, noting that more than 80% of U.S. communities rely exclusively on trucks to receive necessary goods.

Truckers May be first in line for vaccine

Truck drivers and other workers in critical and essential jobs could be among the earliest people to receive COVID-19 vaccinations as several major pharmaceutical companies begin working with large transportation firms to deliver the vaccines.

Distribution efforts, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, could start as early as mid-December, according to a committee within the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As many as 40 million doses could be delivered by the end of the year.

On Dec. 1, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices formally stated that the first available and approved COVID-19 vaccines should be administered to health care and frontline workers, as well as residents of long-term health care facilities, such as assisted living centers and nursing homes.

The panel’s vote was 13-1 in favor, and the advisory committee’s recommendation now goes to CDC Director Robert Redfield for final approval.
Among those that could receive the vaccine after health care workers are truck drivers.