Listen Live

STATE WIDE–The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is one step away from getting to Hoosiers. That’s the emergency approval by the FDA. But, after that, the process of getting the vaccine safely into the arms of Hoosiers is up to the people who distribute pharmaceuticals.

“The distribution segment of the pharmaceutical supply chain really hasn’t been all that visible in part, because of the efficacy that it has shown,” said Chip Davis, president and CEO of the Health Care Distribution Alliance. His meaning: You don’t hear much about the distribution because there are few screw-ups.

LISTEN: Chip Davis talks about the plan.

“The approach the FDA is taking is we’re still gonna prioritize safety and efficacy over speed and that, I think, is gonna be really important for people to have confidence in the vaccines as they come online,” he said.

The vaccines must be kep quite cold, a process that Davis said can be handled. But, he believes that the federal and state governments must stay in good communication with each other and with the companies that are manufacturing, supplying and distributing the vaccines.

One area where people might be concerned is there not being enough to go around, which is why the plan in Indiana is to vaccinate health care workers first.

“In the early stages obviously, there’s a bit of a management of expectation,” he said. “We will have more demand than there will be supply early on.”

Davis said, though, that the manufacturers have been doing an incredible job getting the vaccine manufactured.

“I think the speed is absolutely amazing. I’m very confident that the safety and efficacy of these products in no way, shape or form, are being compromised for that speed.”

Davis said the early stages might be educational, especially for people in a system that will be moving a gargantuan amount of brand new medicine.

“The collaborative effort between the public and private sector, the federal and state governments and the expertise from the manufacturing side, the distribution side and the provider-administrative side have all contributed to the fact that we’ve gotten to this point in a matter of months as opposed to years.”