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Despite the great attention and the high number of individual doses, the subject of vaccines has so far been a lightweight for logistics.
This helps with classification: 56,000 vaccination doses fit on a so-called half-pallet, each of which contains enough for around six vaccinations.
Extrapolated to the amount that the German population needs, this results in pallet loads for less than a dozen truck trailers.
Lined up in a row, this column of trucks would hardly be particularly noticeable on the autobahn - even if it has the most coveted commodity of this time on the loading area.
From now on, vaccine logistics is no longer about large and bundled deliveries.
At the latest when up to 75,000 medical practices and 20,000 pharmacies can actually be supplied with the vaccine, this distribution must be perfectly organized.
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But so far it does not look like that, because the vaccine supply in Germany is like a patchwork quilt.
Logisticians are now calling for a reversal and central control of the complex transport task.
Vaccines are currently being delivered to 60 storage facilities
The division of labor currently looks like this: The federal government procures the vaccine doses, the federal states take care of the infrastructure, staff and syringes.
The vaccines are currently being delivered to around 60 storage sites across Germany and then distributed to a three-digit number of regional vaccination centers.
A lot also goes directly to old people's homes in the regions.
The health ministries of the 16 federal states are responsible for this organization.
The decisions made by these ministries for specific companies vary widely.
In Bavaria, for example, the pharmaceutical logistics company Trans-o-flex came into play.
More about Covid-19
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In Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg it is the Post subsidiary DHL, in North Rhine-Westphalia the Swiss group Kuehne + Nagel and in Berlin the family company Dachser.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, on the other hand, politicians have opted for large pharmacies with their own delivery service for pharmaceuticals.
In Hesse this task is taken over by the Red Cross, in Brandenburg it is Unitax Pharmalogistik.
Small federal states like Bremen commission medium-sized courier services or taxi companies to do this.
In the next few weeks, with the expected surge of many millions of vaccine doses, the next level of logistics is due, namely the fine distribution to doctors, pharmacies and hospitals.
Each federal state is responsible for this mammoth task.
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With the quantities promised by politicians for the second quarter, two million delivery trips per month can quickly result.
Concepts for this are only just being drawn up in the state capitals.
This is not an easy thing: over a period of maybe five months, a distribution has to be organized in the complexity of a parcel service - and that for goods that, unlike a pair of trainers or a sweatshirt, are highly sensitive and must be kept at exact temperatures.
A possible instrument for this would be - in addition to some larger logistics companies - a network of pharmaceutical wholesalers and specialized companies that has existed in Germany for decades.
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"I do not understand why the federal government does not control vaccine distribution centrally and not organize it in the way that the distribution of flu vaccines, for example, has been working well for many years," says Wolfgang Albeck, CEO of Trans-o-flex, in WELT- Conversation.
The company from Weinheim is part of that network.
A comparison with last year's flu vaccination is sufficient to describe the size of the transport task: around 15 million vaccine doses were distributed via this transport system over a period of three months.
Inquiries to the Federal Ministry of Health as to why the system is not being used have so far remained unanswered.
"Obviously nobody in Berlin in politics wants to burn their fingers on the subject," says Albeck.
In the government there is a fear of assuming responsibility alone.
Countries should coordinate with one another
Instead, it would rather be distributed over many places.
The prime ministers of the federal states met every three weeks.
“I wonder why the countries are not taking up the topic there and coordinating their vaccine logistics with one another,” says the manager.
The forwarding agent Albeck has been working in logistics for around 50 years, including a decade for the express service TNT and 20 years for Deutsche Post.
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He switched to Trans-o-flex four years ago.
The company has a supply network of 28 logistics locations and uses around 3000 special vehicles with cooling technology every day.
Customers are almost all major pharmaceutical manufacturers, including vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Biontech.
Instead of 16 individual solutions, politicians should discuss with logisticians from the field who of them can take on which task and where.
"Corona knows no federalism," says Albeck.
Instead, municipalities or fire brigades are currently contacting the logistics company to request a concept.
“From my point of view, this is an unprecedented challenge for the federal states.
We already notice that from the inquiries we receive from the countries, ”says Albeck.
A comprehensive solution is only emerging in individual federal states.
Kuehne + Nagel in North Rhine-Westphalia also wants to distribute the vaccine to doctors and pharmacies.
According to the group, a conclusion is imminent.
DHL is also trying to get such orders in Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg, where the Post subsidiary is currently taking on the transport to the individual vaccination centers.
“We are ready to make our logistics know-how available for other purposes too,” said the Post.
Any discussions with customers would not be commented on.
Federal government on vaccination plans and mask affair
The manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer want to deliver an additional four million doses of corona vaccine to the EU.
In addition, the mask affair continues to circulate.
Follow the government press conference on the developments here.
Source: WORLD
The nationwide distribution network for medical products consists of pharmaceutical wholesalers, specialized logisticians such as Trans-o-flex and pharmacy delivery services.
Germany's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, Phoenix from Mannheim, is one of them, as is the Noweda pharmacists' cooperative from Essen.
Over the past two decades, this has resulted in a network that supplies around 75,000 medical practices, 20,000 pharmacies and 3,000 hospitals with medicines almost every day.
Politicians can fall back on this construct, is the demand.
Deliveries via wholesalers or from central warehouses directly to practices and pharmacies have been common for years for flu vaccinations, for example.
Central control can reduce complexity and increase the speed.
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Manager Albeck answers questions about the business interests and the possible profit as follows: “There is not much money to be made from distributing vaccines.
We wouldn't get rich that way, and that's not what we're interested in, ”says the 69-year-old.
Rather, it should not happen that in a few weeks, large differences in the supply of vaccines between individual regions could become "another scandalous topic".
When it comes to the fine distribution of pharmaceuticals, details are often decisive.
Wholesale suppliers have a large number of special agreements with pharmacies or doctors.
At Trans-o-flex there are around 20,000 such delivery agreements.
They affect certain times of the day, delivery points or people for the handover.
Knowing about these peculiarities prevents addresses from having to be approached several times.
Police protection will hardly be possible with fine distribution
Parcel services can tell you a thing or two about it: the so-called last mile is the most demanding part of the entire logistics process.
Around two thirds of delivery costs are incurred over the last few meters to the customer.
In the case of goods on the loading area such as the Covid-19 vaccine, there is also the need for security.
Police vehicles are currently accompanying the transports of the medium-sized company Hellmann, which distributes vaccine from Bundeswehr storage facilities to the federal states.
But this protection will hardly be possible with the upcoming fine distribution and the high number of tours.
Specialized pharmaceutical logisticians have GPS tracking for their vehicles and shipments with which they can monitor the prescribed temperature of the medication.
Theft of drugs or even a robbery on a transport trolley is at least made more difficult by this monitoring.
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