trans-o-flex, the service provider specialising in pharmaceutical logistics, has joined the debate on the German government’s recently announced plans to set up 60 vaccination centres in Germany. “We welcome the plans to establish such centres to immunise the population when a Covid-19 vaccine is approved,” said the company’s CEO Wolfgang P. Albeck. “At the same time, we offer to contribute our expertise and capacity in pharmaceutical logistics to the planning and distribution of the vaccines. As soon as a vaccine is available, trans-o-flex will be able to supply all 60 planned vaccination centres overnight.

A prerequisite for this is that the coronavirus vaccine – like other vaccines – is classified as a cold chain product. This would allow safe transport between two and eight degrees Celsius (refrigerator temperature). “Whether the new mRNA vaccines really need special storage and transport conditions with temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius can only be decided by the manufacturers,” Albeck said. “The approval for further temperature ranges comes at the end of the development phase of new vaccines. Until valid data on the shelf life of their products also at higher temperatures is available, vaccine producing companies use the low temperatures for long-term storage during pre-production of the vaccine. However, according to our information, stability data for the range 2 to 8 degrees is already available for mRNA vaccines.” The data varies from several days to several months of stability.

“Thanks to our actively temperature-controlled networks, we are therefore prepared for a reliable distribution of coronavirus vaccines,” says CEO Wolfgang P. Albeck. “The subsidiary trans-o-flex ThermoMed, which specialises in distribution in the temperature range between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, can deliver coronavirus vaccines reliably and transparently documented to all doctors, pharmacies and hospitals as well as pharmaceutical wholesalers in Germany and Austria, just as it has done in previous years for influenza vaccines. We also have a proven track record of nationwide special actions, which are a possibility for direct overnight delivery to vaccination centres.