He said that Pfizer’s vaccines that reached the various countries in Europe would come from Germany and Belgium. How does this vaccine reach Portugal? By airplane? In trucks?
EN: Taking into account the doses to which they will be entitled, each Member State has to place orders from either Pfizer or BioNTech so that they can then be distributed. Regarding the procedure, whether they will come by plane or by truck, this is not yet fully defined. I would say that several situations are likely to happen.
And in Portugal how will distribution be done? Will it be up to you or the government?
EN: Our responsibility is to distribute the vaccines in the places agreed with the health authorities.
And are these locations already defined?
EN: Not defined yet. We continue to work with health authorities to define exactly where the 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 that I was in talks with the Government …
PT: We were contacted by the health authorities in order to collaborate, to streamline this entire logistical process.
Even because there is a challenge for the storage of this vaccine to imply very low temperatures, we are talking about minus 70 degrees. This will imply, I assume, specific storage. How will this be done? Does Pfizer have warehouses in Portugal? Have you thought about a solution or is this being considered with the Portuguese authorities?
EN: This was naturally thought out. The vaccine will be distributed in all countries in thermal boxes that have been developed specifically for this purpose. These boxes allow the vaccines to be kept up 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 for 10 days of storage; then there is the possibility to extend for another five days replacing dry ice up to three times; and there is also a chance to store these vaccines in a refrigerator at a temperature between 2ºC to 8ºC for up to five more days. We are talking about a period of up to 20 days, from the moment the vaccine is placed in these coolers until the moment it will have to be administered.
Pfizer plans to bypass distribution wholesalers and has designed its own box to be stocked with dry ice for transporting its potential vaccine so the it won’t have to use traditional refrigerated containers for the 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 taking care of this with a view to making this storage and ensuring that during that period it is possible to make the administration, not least because we have the first and the second dose.
But the interval between the two doses is 21 days, so it will imply, even with these boxes, storage.
EN: This is being considered.
But it is not defined, is it?
EN: It is being considered by the health authorities that have places for the vaccine [seja conservada].
Have these locations been defined?
EN: They are being studied and there is this capacity 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.
EN: It is a lyophilized version, it will not require this storage at negative temperatures, but our expectation is that it may be dispensed or used more towards the end of 2021. It will have to undergo a clinical trial process and has to be approved regulatory authorities so that it can be used. It is not expected that this lyophilized version will be available during the coming months and will replace this vaccine, which will start to be available as soon as possible.
The vaccine from the University of Oxford will be sold at cost until the end of the pandemic, thus achieving a much cheaper price than Pfizer – 3 to 4 dollars compared to Pfizer’s 20 dollars -, having also secured this price ” non-profit ”to the poorest countries. Has Pfizer ever considered this possibility?
EN: We have no official information about the price at which this vaccine is being marketed to the European Commission. In the United States, the agreement between Pfizer and the American administration set the price at $ 19.50. What we 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, not least because it was confidential.
–
