Pfizer and Portugal prepares for COVID-19 vaccine transport

  • ECO News
  • 23 November 2020

"We are collaborating with the Portuguese health authorities in order to speed up the whole process" to transport the vaccine, said the General Director of Pfizer Portugal.

Pfizer Portugal is already working together with the Portuguese authorities for the packaging and transport of the future vaccine, said Paulo Teixeira, general director of the Portuguese subsidiary, in declarations to Antena 1.

“Together with specialized companies we have developed special thermal boxes that use dry ice to keep the temperature up to -80 degrees during 10 days, with the possibility of extending up to 15 days,” Paulo Teixeira, General Director of Pfizer Portugal, explained.

As explained by the General Director, “each package contains a thermal sensor equipped with GPS” in order to “monitor the location and temperature of each batch of vaccine along its predefined routes”. At the same time, this future vaccine could also be “stored up to five days in standard conditions of two to eight degrees in vaccination centers,” so the pharmacist is conducting “stability studies to possibly extend this time,” he said.

In this context, Pfizer Portugal is “collaborating with the Portuguese health authorities in order to speed up the whole process,” confirmed Paulo Teixeira. In addition, the General Manager of the Portuguese subsidiary reveals that the company expects to produce 50 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

Two weeks ago, the experimental vaccine of Pfizer and BioNTech demonstrated to have more than 90% effectiveness against the new coronavirus, being able to prevent the Covid-19 without producing adverse side effects, a real breakthrough in the fight against the pandemic.