UPS: delivering equitable access to critical healthcare services
UPS has surpassed the one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered mark.
“UPSers have been essential in the fight against COVID-19, delivering equitable access to critical healthcare services’” said Chief Sales and Solutions Officer and Executive Vice President, UPS Global Healthcare Kate Gutmann. “This milestone would not have been possible without every person in our global network working tirelessly, alongside our partners and customers, to accelerate vaccine distribution and help keep communities as safe as possible.”
The global UPS network and dedicated UPS employees not only supported healthcare customers and global organizations, but also joined in public-private partnerships to provide vaccines and cold chain expertise to countries with hard-to-reach populations, ensuring delivery to as many people as possible. To achieve this, UPS Healthcare mapped roughly 500 trade lanes to enable seamless worldwide vaccine shipments and used more than three million pounds of dry ice to help safely move vaccines.
“UPS Healthcare has set the global pace for COVID-19 vaccine delivery, supported by the unmatched dedication of UPSers and the company’s global logistics capabilities and expertise,” said UPS Healthcare President Wes Wheeler. “Medicines derived from biologics and delivered via cutting edge cold chain networks represent the future of healthcare, and UPS Healthcare is leading the way.”
Examples of these global efforts include:
- Ultra-cold freezer donations and in-kind vaccine deliveries to facilitate equitable distribution to remote and rural areas throughout Africa, South America, Asia, North America, and Europe, made possible by The UPS Foundation.
- Three Regional 24/7 UPS Healthcare Command Centers, dedicated to predicting and managing the global vaccine movement to ensure on-time delivery, with contingency plans and solutions to mitigate the risks of extreme weather and other obstacles
- Partnering with Gavi and other organizations to train and manage ultra-cold vaccine movement in COVAX countries, supporting COVID relief and healthcare infrastructure moving forward
- Delivery of COVID-19 vaccines outside of the U.S. managing 4,500 movements through the UPS network and commercial partners since the first vaccines were made available. These flights, coordinated by UPS Global Freight Forwarding, add capacity to the already extensive UPS Airlines network and provide customers with even greater worldwide reach at a time when equitable vaccine distribution is key to global health.
- Embedded UPS logistic experts in countries including Indonesia and Malawi to fully and safely manage vaccine distribution logistics
- UPS support of vaccine doses delivered via autonomous aircraft to clinics in Africa through the partnership between Zipline and Gavi.
- Real-time visibility into the location of vaccines through UPS® Premier technology, which provides precise visibility into every single vaccine package – down to within 10 feet of its location anywhere in the UPS global network
- Supported over 130 vaccine clinical trials to date through the UPS Healthcare subsidiary Marken, which is involved in nearly all vaccines and treatments in development today.
“Service is in our DNA. We will continue to provide life-saving supplies, vaccines and other therapies with a constant eye on equitable distribution in every country we serve,” said Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Laura Lane, who also has responsibility for global social impact and sustainability.
