The flu season is upon us. But the Ukraine war, the energy crisis and avian influenza are also endangering vaccine production at the GSK plant in Dresden.
Dresden – The flu season is upon us. the EU therefore ordered 85 million doses of the flu vaccine Adjupanrix from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) weeks ago. But without gas, production would dresden stand still. Also without eggs.
Site manager Jacqueline Schönfelder (49) explains how the flu vaccine is made. © Thomas Tuerpe
The current energy crisis is also hitting GSK hard. With an energy consumption of more than 45,000 megawatt hours and costs of 5.4 million euros, GSK is in Saxony one of the major energy consumers. The rising costs might still be absorbed until 2021.
“Since then, additional costs of one million euros have accumulated,” says André Petters, GSK Energy Manager. The company has responded, purchased new heaters and is increasingly replacing gas with oil. “But we can’t continue production without gas,” says site manager Jacqueline Schönfelder (49).
At peak times, the Dresden plant employs up to 1,000 people to produce vaccines once morest influenza and hepatitis.
The last batches of the current influenza vaccine for the needs in the southern hemisphere are currently running. Production starts in February of each year for the northern hemisphere, a total of 60 million flu vaccine doses annually.
The “prescription” for each flu season comes directly from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The filled syringes with the flu vaccine are ready for onward transport. © Thomas Tuerpe
Another sticking point is avian influenza. Because the vaccines are obtained from chicken eggs. The demand is high with 70 million eggs per year.
Among other things, they are produced in Brandenburg, Bayern and the Netherlands, not in Saxony. One of the suppliers recently dropped out completely because the entire stock had to be culled because of avian influenza.
The Dresden location is currently far more concerned regarding the Ukraine war and the energy crisis. The will of the state government to help is great, the possibilities are manageable, and the skepticism is clear.
“We will certainly no longer reach the pre-war level of gas. But what we have now is toxic,” said Economics Minister Martin Dulig (48, SPD) during an on-site visit.
