Weinheim, 30 August 2021. The logistics for distributing the current flu vaccines have started earlier this year than in 2020. Since there was a shortage of vaccines last autumn, especially at the beginning of the flu season, the Paul Ehrlich Institute approved 7.3 million vaccine doses by mid-August. This was significantly more than by the same point in the previous year. “Right from the start, we were able to transport more vaccines than in 2020,” confirms Wolfgang P. Albeck, CEO of express delivery service provider trans-o-flex, which specialises in logistics solutions for pharmaceuticals and other high-value, sensitive goods. A total of around 26 million vaccine doses are to be available in Germany for this year’s flu season. “The majority are handed over to us by manufacturers in September, and usually at least 95% of the flu vaccines have been delivered by the end of October.”

Like most vaccines, influenza vaccines are also highly temperature-sensitive and classified as requiring a cold chain. This is why they have to be transported between two and eight degrees Celsius. “With our trans-o-flex ThermoMed network, we deliver them nationwide on behalf of numerous manufacturers,” Albeck continues. “To comply with the temperature specifications, shipping with trans-o-flex ThermoMed does not require expensive special packaging and cooling media, which increase the weight and thus the transport price and also have to be retrieved or disposed of at great expense. Instead, we actively control the maintenance of the temperature by regulating the temperature of our vehicles and transshipment centres, and at the same time ensure transparent documentation in a temperature history.”

According to Albeck, active temperature control is gaining in importance, not least in view of climate change, and the demand for transport solutions for vaccines and other temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals is steadily increasing. “The summers are getting warmer, the winters colder, the fluctuations in the weather more and more unpredictable. This is why the risk of transporting temperature-sensitive goods without temperature control has become almost incalculable.” trans-o-flex has adapted to this development and is the only logistics service provider in Germany and Austria to have built up nationwide transport networks, with deliveries within 24 hours, in which sensitive goods are actively temperature-controlled and documented from the consignor to the consignee both in the so-called ambient range (15 to 25 degrees Celsius) and in the refrigerated range (2 to 8 degrees). Actively temperature-controlled shipments are also offered in other European countries via the EUROTEMP network.