BrownCafe

President Trump on Friday tweeted his thanks to the “great men and women” at FedEx and UPS for delivering millions of doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine across the country — even during deadly snowstorms.

“THANK YOU to the GREAT men and women of @fedex and @UPS for driving through the storms this week to deliver millions of doses of the vaccine across the country. Two Great American Companies!” Trump wrote.

Both companies were tapped by the administration to help with the complicated delivery of the drug — which is shipped in 50 pounds of dry ice to keep the vaccine stable at minus 70 degrees Celsius — as part of Operation Warp Speed.

THANK YOU to the GREAT men and women of @FedEx and @UPS for driving through the storms this week to deliver millions of doses of the vaccine across the country. Two Great American Companies!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2020

U.S. Army Gen. Gus Perna is not one to be awestruck by a well-executed logistics plan. But he’s enamored with FedEx Corp.’s and UPS’ performance during the first week of distribution for Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The military is a no-excuses, bottom-line world: Get the job done. And Perna has spent years helping manage the Defense Department’s massive logistics requirements, most recently as commander of Army Materiel Command. He also logged time at the Pentagon as Army deputy chief of staff for logistics, ran supply centers for the Defense Logistics Agency and directed logistics for U.S. forces in Iraq, among other stints.

You might say he’s seen it all.

Still, FedEx and UPS have impressed the chief operating officer for Operation Warp Speed, the industry-government partnership tasked with organizing a nationwide supply chain in record time to help quell the worst pandemic in 100 years. Rather than deploy military assets to deliver vaccines, OWS has harnessed the capabilities of commercial industry, supplemented with the Defense Department’s procurement and planning capabilities.