Challenge of Our Time: The COVID-19 Vaccine

While grim milestones are still being hit, there is light at the end of the COVID tunnel. Several vaccine candidates across the world are raising hopes that soon, the coronavirus pandemic may end up in the rear view mirror. That we find ourselves here in less than a year is perhaps nothing short of a medical miracle. But the hard work is just beginning. How do you manufacture and distribute a vaccine to nearly 7.8 billion people?

We will highlight the state of play — not only in the US, but globally — in producing workable vaccine candidates, and then evaluating the national and international strategies to manufacture vaccines, therapeutics, and the downstream infrastructure of those at global scale, and then look at distribution complexities that must be overcome.

Wednesday, January 27

Sessions beginning at 1:15 PM ET/10:15 AM PT

The Manufacturing (1:15 PM ET/10:15 AM PT)

There are 7.8 billion people in the world, and leading experts say that the target number for vaccination must reach 70% of those, or roughly 5.5 billion people. The scale is staggering. Are we prepared?

• Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health
• Dr. Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientific Officer & President, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Adviser on COVID-19 to the President & Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Chair, Committee on Science, Space and Technology
• Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health Organization
• Dr. Leana Wen, Emergency Physician & Visiting Professor, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health

The Distribution (2:30 PM ET/11:30 AM PT)

Global supply chains and efficient distribution networks will determine how effectively a vaccine is able to offer protection. It will also need an unprecedented level of collaboration between the public and private sectors and between the federal and state governments. And then there is also the matter of trust.

• Dr. Susan Bailey, President, American Medical Association
• Dr. John P. Banovetz, Chief Technology Officer, 3M
• Sharon Weston Broome, Mayor, Baton Rouge, LA
• Dr. John Brownstein, Chief Innovation Officer, Boston Children’s Hospital; Harvard University professor
• Dr. Sree Chaguturu, Chief Medical Officer, CVS
• Daniel E. Dawes, Director, Satcher Health Leadership Institute; Executive Director, Health Policy, Morehouse School of Medicine; Co-founder, The Health Equity Leadership and Exchange Network
• Dr. Peter Hotez, Co-Director, Center for Vaccine Development, Texas Children’s Hospital; Dean, The National School of Tropical Medicine
• Dr. Margaret Moss, Associate Professor in Nursing, University of British Columbia; Member of the Hidatsa/Dakhota Tribe; Director, The First Nations House of Learning
• Jay Timmons, President & CEO, National Association of Manufacturers
• Wes Wheeler, President, UPS Healthcare
• Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Member, Ways & Means Committee; GOP Doctors Caucus

Editorial note: While it is generally our policy that sponsors of programs not participate in editorial portions of the program, we feel the leadership of these companies is important to the national discussion of vaccine roll out and have made an exception in this case.

Additional speakers to be announced.

Sponsor Perspectives:

• <Chip Davis, President & Chief Executive Officer, HDA

Moderator:

• Steve Clemons, Editor-at-Large, The Hill

SPONSORED CONTENT MESSAGE:

To help protect lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, 3M and our 96,000 employees have continued to innovate to help solve the challenges of this unprecedented moment in history.  While significantly expanding our
domestic production of N95 respirators and other critically needed PPE, 3M is also providing advanced biopharma filtration solutions to help enable drug companies to make life-saving COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.  Learn more about these efforts
and the policies that can support our nation’s response to COVID-19 and assist frontline healthcare workers and critical industries here.

 

Connecting 180,000 healthcare providers and pharmacies with 1,400 drug manufacturers across the country, distributors have the partnerships and skill to manage a complex healthcare supply
chain. 

HDA members are integrally engaged in the COVID-19 response efforts — from sourcing and distributing PPE, to helping to turn vaccines and their ancillary supplies into vaccinations, to ensuring
therapeutics reach frontline providers. 

Every day, distributors leverage their strong relationships, past experience and logistics expertise to rise to the challenges of the pandemic, while continuing to meet the daily healthcare
needs of all Americans. Learn how distributors are responding to COVID-19.

 

UPS Healthcare is honored to have provided healthcare logistics support throughout the pandemic – from PPE distribution, to lab logistics support for COVID-19 testing, to clinical trials management for over 10
vaccines currently in phase three development, to being part of the public-private partnership delivering the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

As a healthcare company with deep logistics experience, we fully understand the complexities involved in transporting fragile biologics to mass vaccinate a global population. Learn
more about three key trends emerging in logistics and distribution to meet the challenges of safely distributing a flood of temperature-sensitive vaccines.