The Covid vaccine’s long journey: How doses get from the manufacturing plant to your arm

The Covid vaccine’s long journey: How doses get from the manufacturing plant to your arm

Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine is pictured at Rady Children's Hospital before it's placed back in the refrigerator in San Diego, California on December 15, 2020.Adriana Drehsler | AFP | Getty ImagesAs the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic mounts in the U.S., the country finally has some reason for hope: Nurses, doctors, the elderly and other vulnerable people across America are getting the first Covid vaccine shots.An army of pilots, delivery drivers and pharmacists last month started to ship, distribute and administer millions of vaccine doses. The small vials are traveling on airplanes and trucks, and some times inside of specially made hand-held coolers.So far, two vaccines have been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use in the U.S.: those by Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna. Several other drugmakers also have agreements to provide their vaccines to the federal government once they are approved. AstraZeneca's vaccine, developed with Oxford University, was just approved for emergency use in the U.K. but is still in clinical trials in the U.S.The much-awaited vaccines — and whether they're distributed quickly, smoothly and widely — will help determine whether the U.S. can gain control of a virus that's killed more than 355,000 people across the country, overwhelmed