Public Health

Right now, many major pharmaceutical companies are cooperating with transportation firms in order to deliver the first rounds of COVID-19 vaccinations. Among the first people to receive such vaccines are those working in essential and critical jobs–which could include truck drivers.

Operation Warp Speed–the name for these early distribution efforts–have been slated to begin in mid-December. By the end of 2020, the country could see at least 40 million doses having been delivered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices held a virtual open meeting in an emergency webcast on December 1st in order to vote on a temporary recommendation as to who will receive the vaccine first.

The committee decided, in a 13-to-1 vote, that health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities should be the first to get the vaccine during its Phase 1A release. They also voted that essential workers–potentially including truckers–would comprise the entirety of Phase 1B’s deployment.

Phase 1C will include adults over the age of 65 and adults with high-risk medical conditions.

Now, the advisory committee’s interim recommendation will go to Robert Redfield, CDC Director, for its final approval.

On the day of the webcast, American Trucking Associations sent letters to the White House, President-elect Joe Biden, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the National Governors Association in an effort to convince them to take into account the essential status of the trucking industry while the national vaccine distribution strategy is decided upon within the government. In the letters, ATA claimed that truckers must be considered critical infrastructure workers and be among the first vaccinated.

“As the trucking industry is called upon to deliver vaccines across the country, it is imperative that truck drivers have prioritized access to the vaccine to minimize the potential for supply chain delays and disruptions,” said Bill Sullivan, ATA Executive Vice President for Advocacy, in the letter. “Our nation’s efforts to successfully confront the COVID-19 pandemic depend on the resilience and integrity of the transportation network. As we saw at the outset of the pandemic, when supply chains are disrupted, consequences are fast to follow.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation has been meticulously preparing for the safe and efficient transportation of the vaccine, once it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, in order to avoid said consequences.

“The Department has laid the groundwork for the safe transportation of the COVID-19 vaccine and is proud to support this historic endeavor,” said Elaine Chao, U.S. Transportation Secretary.

UPS Inc., DHL, and FedEx Corp. have also said that they are already establishing their distribution plans, as are many other major transportation providers. Logistics companies that will need to transport the vaccine have been building new cold storage facilities where possible in order to have enough space for the vaccine.

Former truck driver, current trucking industry expert, and University of Minnesota-Morris economist and professor, Stephen Burks, who is also a recent COVID-19 survivor, maintains that it is imperative for truck drivers to be among the first to receive the vaccine.

“Medical personnel taking care of COVID patients would be the first in line, and that would make perfectly good sense,” he said. ”And there are essential workers, such as truck drivers and grocery store workers, who have to be interacting with people to make the basics of the economy go on, even when we have a lockdown. Truck drivers count in this group of essential workers.”

Burks explained that he feels positively in regards to the trucking industry and logistics industry’s plans that will hopefully allow for the speedy and efficient transportation of the vaccine to wherever it is needed.

“I am expecting some glitches, but I would expect [that] overall, it will mostly work,” he said. “It’s going to be tricky, especially for the Pfizer vaccine. The problem is to get through the next six months or eight months. After that, we’ll be in a world that will be relatively plentiful with vaccines. We’ve got to get through the summer. Will we substantially get the job done? I am hopeful.”

In regard to these truckers receiving the vaccine early, the panel is holding meetings this month while the vaccines go through the federal approval process in order to make its final decisions.

Electronic bills of lading are becoming more and more common as both trucking companies and customers adopt the technology as an extra precaution to keep truck drivers safe.

The coronavirus pandemic rages on, and shippers are still doing what they can to ensure the safety of truckers serving at the front lines of America’s pandemic response efforts. Many companies have already been using electronic documents in lieu of traditional paperwork for years, as electronic bills tend to improve transaction efficiency and workflow, but with the focus on safety and limited person-to-person contact, virtual documents have become more prevalent in the industry than ever.

“Because of COVID, and the health and safety component, it shined a light on an issue that was ripe for further discussion and refinement, said Tom Madrecki, vice president of supply chain and logistics for the Consumer Brands Association, which recently implemented a Contactless Delivery Task Force. “All of a sudden, it became really paramount that everyone in the supply chain stayed safe.”

Soon, the task force grew to nearly 40 members throughout the industry of packaged goods, including carriers, tech facilitators, and retailers alike. 

The task force, which focuses on furthering the current momentum of finding more contactless delivery options, is working to boost the widespread utilization of contactless delivery as a practice. These methods include the updating of delivery processes, data sharing, and carriers’ current delivery platforms.

Task force member and Coyote chief network solutions officer Nick Shroeger believes supply chain workforce safety is extraordinarily important right now, and that universal contactless delivery practices are a no-brainer.

“If you think about where there’s the most interaction between different companies between carrier and shipper, it is when the driver is checking in and checking out, so how do we reduce the amount of manual touch points and contact points between two individuals?” Shroeger asked. “When you’re intersecting with so many independent drivers that check in and out of the facility, it’s hard to have that standardized process or practices to ensure safety for your people.”

This worry brings the chance to create an industry-standard solution, he explained.

Madrecki agreed, adding that companies also need a solution that will be easy enough to use across the industry and across current company technology. Additionally, Shroeger and Madrecki both mention the “app fatigue” that already exists among many truckers who have been adapting to so much new technology on the job.

“Carriers don’t want 15 apps when they pull into a facility,” Madrecki said. “Everybody wants a solution, just one, that accounts for those different use cases and needs.”

Bills of lading–which work as contracts between consignors and consignees, as well as freight receipts and official documentation of transfers of goods–had already been heading towards becoming widely electronic before the pandemic. Now, electronic bills are becoming standard much more quickly than previously expected due to the safety concerns arriving with COVID-19.

“It takes a lot of human interaction to pick up and deliver a load,” said Robert Solimani, Vice President of Stevens Transport. “What COVID has done is have people thinking outside the box. It has spurred the industry into advancing current technology into the 21st century to allow carriers, shippers, and receivers to be on the same page as to how to make us more efficient.”

Zonar Systems has been utilizing electronic bills of lading consistently for about four years already, after releasing Zonar Forms (ZForms) to replace paperwork in an effort to expedite the driver-to-dispatch process. A ZForm allows for electronic signatures and digital bill of lading records.

“Obviously, with the [electronic logging device] mandate, that changed a lot of carriers and how they managed their [fleets],” explained Zonar’s vice president of safety and compliance, Fred Fakkema.

Electronic document management has also been made available within ELD and trucking tech provider KeepTruckin, whose fleet management software allows drivers to manage documents, including bills of lading, right on its mobile app.

“Paper logs, bills of lading, and manual paperwork are a big pain point for drivers,” said KeepTruckin’s head of safety and compliance product team, Abhishek Gupta. “Historically, they had to store paperwork in the truck and had to fax it or drop it off. It is time-consuming, error-prone, and not easy to keep track of. We built this app to streamline the process.”

Although many trucking company leaders say a 100% switch from paper may not be possible anytime soon, Gupta believes electronic documentation has only just begun.

“The uptick has been there since the mandate, and with COVID, it is more important than ever,” said Gupta. “But the benefit of the technology for the driver or back-office staff has been so remarkable, it will only continue the trend. More fleets and drivers will realize that embracing technology will be beneficial in the long-term. In a post-pandemic world, the trend will only accelerate.”