News Room

Mass vaccination offers hope for a return to the prepandemic normal. But the distribution process also comes with some potentially nasty side effects: Vaccination without a careful plan could inadvertently make the world even more unequal than a year ago. The two initial vaccine candidates, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, may have particularly problematic consequences for inequality. But the candidate that may have seemed like a runner-up in the vaccine race, from Oxford- AstraZeneca, has strong potential to finish as the most essential vaccine to end the pandemic.

Immunization of health-care workers and residents of long-term care facilities has begun.  With each day bringing over 250,000 new confirmed cases and well over 2,000 additional deaths in the U.S., help is on the way to curb the COVID-19 momentum plaguing our nation. The full benefits of the vaccine will not be realized until tens of millions of people receive their two-dose regimen, which will likely not occur until the summer of 2021.  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two COVID-19 vaccines under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process. With these approvals, the immunization of health care workers and those in long-term care facilities has begun, providing them with a measure of protection against COVID-19. Waiting in the immunization queue are essential workers and at-risk populations. The expectation is that vaccines will be available for all who wish to be immunized by the middle of 2021.

Washington state will rely on an honor system to determine eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations, so those administering vaccines do not have to police who qualifies. The state plans to launch an online questionnaire — called PhaseFinder — soon where people can determine their own eligibility for vaccination. When more vaccination sites are available, members of the public could present screenshots of their questionnaire results at vaccination sites, said Mary Huynh, a deputy director at the state Department of Health. The state also plans to provide a template letter for employers to vouch for workers’ eligibility.

The 747 is quickly flying away from passenger service. But is the era of the four-engine jumbo jet really dead? Not if you like to get everything from high-value fish to higher-valued COVID-19 vaccine delivered. Just in time for the holidays, UPS got its own eagerly-anticipated package—a brand new 747 8F freighter. On December 14, the $419 million dollar plane was ferried from the Boeing plant and airfield in Everett, Washington to its new UPS home at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, where UPS has its largest air-sorting hub, WorldPort. The new plane is the 20th 747 8F to be delivered to UPS, part of a total of 28 aircraft ordered by the cargo carrier.