FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., announced Monday, March 1, that it has begun shipping the newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for McKesson Corp. to dosing centers around the United States.

J&J’s one-dose vaccine was given emergency use authorization by the FDA on Saturday.

In a news release, FedEx Express said it has shipped millions of COVID-19 vaccines since U.S. distribution began in mid-December 2020 and is prepared to scale up to accommodate anticipated growth in vaccine volume through the spring and summer.

How does the Johnson & Johnson vaccine work?

Nearly three months after COVID-19 vaccine distribution began, FedEx said it has shipped COVID-19 vaccines and supply kits to administration sites across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C.

COVID-19 vaccine volume is split evenly, with FedEx moving approximately half the doses allocated by the federal government and UPS handling the other half.

“As vaccine production ramps up and more vaccines are approved, we expect to see a significant uptick in COVID-19 vaccine and supply kit volume moving through our network,” said Don Colleran, president and CEO for FedEx Express. “As manufacturers obtain approval to ship COVID-19 vaccines with greater temperature ranges and varying dosing allotments, we anticipate more of these packages moving to more places through our global network.”

FedEx Express will transport the new COVID-19 vaccines and kits of supplies for administration using its FedEx Priority Overnight service supported by FedEx Priority Alert advanced monitoring – the same process used for all COVID-19 vaccines packed out by McKesson Corp. and Pfizer Inc.

First US doses of J&J vaccine shipped

FedEx is also delivering COVID-19 vaccines to U.S. military bases overseas for the Defense Logistics Agency, and is working closely with the Canadian government and health care companies to ship COVID-19 vaccines to all 13 Canadian provinces and territories.

“Over the past three months we have demonstrated the power of our network as we deliver safely and reliably with an average delivery time of less than 20 hours,” said Richard W. Smith, regional president of the Americas and executive vice president of global support for Memphis-based FedEx Express.

“Because we are able to ship to every ZIP code in the U.S., we can deliver to rural, suburban and urban destinations throughout the country within 24 hours while tracking the packages from start to finish in real-time as they move through our system,” Smith said.