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He said Pfizer vaccines that reached various European countries would come from Germany and Belgium. How does this vaccine get to Portugal? By plane? In trucks?
IT: Taking into account the doses to which they will be entitled, each Member State must place orders from Pfizer or BioNTech so that they can then be distributed. Regarding the procedure, whether they will arrive by plane or by truck, this is not yet fully defined. I would say there will probably be several situations.
And how will the distribution be carried out in Portugal? Will it be up to you or the government?
IT: Our responsibility is to distribute the vaccines in the places agreed with the health authorities.
And these locations are already defined?
IT: Not yet defined. We continue to work with health authorities to define exactly where vaccines will be distributed. There will certainly be some locations, but then it will be up to the health authorities to do the whole process.
I just said I was in talks with the government …
PT: We have been contacted by the health authorities to collaborate, to streamline the entire logistics process.
Also because there is a challenge for the conservation of this vaccine that involves very low temperatures, we are talking about minus 70 degrees. This will, I assume, involve specific memorization. How will it be done? Does Pfizer have warehouses in Portugal? Have you thought of a solution or is it being studied with the Portuguese authorities?
EN: This was naturally thought of. The vaccine will be distributed in all countries in thermal boxes developed specifically for this purpose. These boxes allow vaccines to be kept down to minus 70 degrees and allow the vaccine to remain stable for up to 15 days.
As long as they are closed?
EN: They can be opened and dry ice can be replaced up to three times. They allow 10 days of storage; then there is the possibility of extending for another five days in place of dry ice up to three times; and there is also the option of storing these vaccines in the refrigerator at 2ºC to 8ºC for up to another five days. We are talking about a period of up to 20 days, from the moment the vaccine is placed in these refrigerators until the moment it needs to be administered.
Pfizer plans to bypass distribution wholesalers and has designed its box to be stored with dry ice to transport its potential vaccine so that it does not have to use traditional refrigerated containers for temperature-sensitive cargo. https://t.co/0BN623ge0U via @WSJ pic.twitter.com/IPQ3SNkLd7
– Paul Page (@PaulPage) November 9, 2020
Doesn’t that have to mean finding specific places to store vaccines?
EN: It is natural that it does. The health authorities are working on this in view of this storage and to ensure that during that period it is possible to do the administration, also because we have the first and second dose.
But the interval between the two doses is 21 days, so it will imply, even with these boxes, storage.
IT: This is under consideration.
But it’s not defined, is it?
IT: It is being studied by the health authorities who have places for the vaccine [seja conservada].
Have these places been defined?
PT: They are being studied and there is this ability on the part of the health authorities to be able to do this storage.
It was also announced that Pfizer is working on a powder version of the vaccine.
IT: It is a freeze-dried version, it will not require this storage at negative temperatures, but our expectation is that it will be released or used more towards the end of 2021. It will have to undergo a clinical trial process and have to be approved by regulators in so that it can be used. This lyophilized version is not expected to be available in the coming months and will replace this vaccine, which will start being available as soon as possible.
The Oxford University vaccine will be sold at cost until the end of the pandemic, thus obtaining a much lower price than Pfizer – $ 3 to $ 4 compared to Pfizer’s $ 20 -, having also secured this “non-profit” price for Poorer Countries: Has Pfizer ever considered this possibility?
EN: We have no official information on the price at which this vaccine is marketed at the European Commission. In the US, the deal between Pfizer and the US administration set the price at $ 19.50. What we do know is that in the agreement established with the European Commission the price of this vaccine is lower, but we have no official information on what the price was, also because this was confidential.
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