German vials in spotlight as Covid-19 vaccine nears

As expectations grow that the first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in a matter of weeks, German glassmaker Schott is quietly doing what it has been for months: churning out vials that will hold the vaccine.

The 130-year-old company, whose founder Otto Schott invented the high- quality borosilicate glass favoured by the pharma industry, has been working round the clock to meet unprecedented demand.

   

Already it has delivered millions of the little bottles to vaccine makers involved in Covid-19 trials, who have already started filling them so they can be shipped out the minute regulators give the okay.

While non-disclosure agreements prevent Schott from detailing its customer list, head of communications Christina Rettig said they include “the ones you hear about in the media”.

In fact, Schott is supplying vials for three-quarters of the more than 100 coronavirus vaccine trials worldwide.

Closest to the finish line are US firm Moderna and a joint effort by US giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech — which coincidentally has its headquarters in the same western German city of Mainz as Schott.