The Spanish Ministry of Health said on the 28th local time that the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer has postponed the delivery of a new batch of coronavirus vaccines to eight EU countries, including Spain.
The day before, EU countries had launched large-scale vaccination operations.
According to AFP on the 28th, the Spanish Ministry of Health said in a statement that Pfizer’s Spanish branch informed the Spanish government on the evening of the 27th that Pfizer had delayed the delivery of vaccines to eight EU countries due to “problems during loading and transportation” at its Belgian factories.
At the same time, the statement also said that Pfizer had informed the Spanish Ministry of Health that the next delivery of the vaccine would be “a few hours late” and that the vaccine would arrive in Spain on the 29th, one day later than expected delivery.
Spain’s health minister Salvador Illa said in an interview with the media that the delay in vaccine delivery is related to “temperature control during transportation”, and the problem is “clearly resolved”.
According to the report, Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine must be stored in ultra-low temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius, and then shipped to the distribution center in a special cold box full of dry ice.
Once out of the ultra-low temperature storage environment, the vaccine must be stored in an environment of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, with a shelf life of about 5 days.
It is reported that the elderly, medical staff and politicians in most EU countries began to vaccinate Pfizer against the novel coronavirus last weekend.
Spain plans to receive 350,000 doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine a week over the next three months.
