Countries around the world have begun to approve the most anticipated vaccine of the 21st century — but getting it to 8 billion people is going to be a massive undertaking with many logistical challenges. The different vaccines need to be kept at various cold temperatures, transported to isolated and hard-to-reach areas, and fit onto different-sized planes.
And all of that has to happen as the 2020 holiday season begins. The cargo industry has already been overwhelmed this year by many people shopping from home, leading to shipping surges and late packages. There will likely be a fight for space between vaccines, Amazon packages, furniture, cars, and other cargo.
Lufthansa Cargo recently upgraded its Chicago O'Hare facility to be able to handle a large amount of pharmaceutical shipments. We went inside to see how the team is getting ready to ship up to 10 million vaccine doses a day.