The First Vaccine Shipments Go Out

One pallet of 12 boxes on the forklift.

Maybe 6-7 pallets on the left.

The New York Times photo above shows the beginning of the vaccine distribution process.

It looks like 12 big boxes are on that forklift.

From personal memory: Each big box contains up to 5 smaller boxes and ~80 lb of dry ice.[1] Each smaller box contains 195 vials. Each vial can vaccinate 5 people for vaccination once. That amounts to 4875 vaccinations per small box. Each person needs two vaccinations for full (~95% ) immunity, one vaccination elicits ~80% immunity. 

Therefore if my recollection is right, that one forklift contains enough vaccine to inoculate 58,500 people once.

If 320,000,000 people in the US are to get vaccinated just once, that would require 5,470 forklifts. If they get two doses, that would require 10,940 forklifts.  

Footnote: 

1. "Each vaccine shipping box weighs about 80 pounds and holds up to 4,875 doses of vaccine. There are five doses per vial. The vials are packed in flat boxes about the size of a small pizza box, each of which holds 195 vials. As many as five of these are stacked together in a reusable, insulated cardboard box that is topped with 50 pounds of dry ice."

Sandra Lindsay, critical care nurse on Long Island New York

(one of the first to get vaccinated in the US)