While no industry was completely immune, the food industry was hit especially hard by the pandemic, which restricted worker movement, forced production facilities to close and brought food distribution to a halt — all while consumer demand fluctuated with little predictability.

David Winstead, an attorney with Ballard Spahr LLP and former Secretary of Transportation in the state of Maryland, speculates on U.S. Department of Transportation challenges, initiatives and priorities under the incoming Biden Administration.

As vaccines roll out more broadly, and countries begin to get the coronavirus under control, attention will turn to the recovery and a return to normal operations. The supply chain will play an integral role in this effort, and will itself emerge in a different shape, with COVID-19 leaving a lasting legacy on many areas of transportation and warehousing.

Jason Burns, director of corporate development with Dropoff and first vice president of the Customized Logistics & Delivery Association, outlines the challenges that pharmaceutical manufacturers face in maintaining strict temperature controls for delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Matthew Goodman, senior vice president and holder of the Simon Chair in Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discusses the prospects of the Biden Administration bringing the U.S. back into the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

With the possibility of a COVID-19 vaccine drawing near, manufacturers, logistics companies and healthcare providers must consider the safety of all personnel involved.