From the Factory to the Frontlines
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES | PAGE 3
Distribution
What is required: A distribution plan must be able to deliver vaccines immediately upon FDA
authorization or licensure to all possible administration endpoints, while remaining flexible
enough to accommodate a variety of factors, including varying product requirements and
manufacturing timelines and volumes. Any distribution eort must ensure safety of the products,
maintain control and visibility, manage uptake and acceptance, ensure traceability of product,
and maximize coverage, which requires a centralized solution as well as close local partnerships.
What we are doing: OWS is developing a cooperative plan for centralized distribution that will
be executed in phases by the federal government, the 64 jurisdictions CDC works with (all 50
states, six localities, and territories and freely associated states), Tribes, industry partners, and
other entities.
Distribution has three key components:
Partnerships with state, local and tribal health departments, territories, Tribes,
and federal entities to allocate and distribute vaccines, augmented by direct
distribution to commercial partners.
A centralized distributor contract with potential for back-up distributors for
additional storage and handling requirements.
A flexible, scalable, secure web-based IT vaccine tracking system for ongoing
vaccine allocation, ordering, uptake, and management.
State, Tribal, and Local Partnerships
CDC is working with state, local and tribal health departments to hone existing plans for vaccine
distribution and administration. CDC has worked for decades with these partners, including
under cooperative agreements, to ensure public health systems are prepared with plans,
trained personnel, strategic relationships and partnerships, data systems, and other resources
needed for sustaining a successful routine immunization infrastructure, and these plans will
be adapted for this vaccine program.
CDC awarded grants as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
Act and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that can help immunization programs
begin preparation for vaccine distribution and administration. The funding will be used to
enhance capacity to support stang, communication and stakeholder engagement, pandemic
preparedness, and mass vaccination.
A multi-agency federal team has worked with five pilot jurisdictions—California, Florida,
Minnesota, North Dakota, and Philadelphia—to utilize a basic plan for administration and
adapt it to create jurisdiction-specific plans that will serve as models for other jurisdictions.
Jurisdiction planning will cover coordination with federal facilities in their jurisdiction,
coordination with national chain partners, vaccination of critical work forces, and reaching
underserved populations.
Each jurisdiction will be required to develop a “microplan,” based on their existing plans as well
as outputs from the first five jurisdictions supported, with CDC providing technical assistance.
These microplans will identify vaccination sites and necessary logistical considerations and
lay out how the sites will be onboarded into the necessary IT system. The microplans will need
to be flexible to allow adaptation as more information about the specific characteristics of the
vaccines becomes available.