A large part of the Corona vaccine developers purchase their glass vials from Schott AG, the special glass manufacturer from Mainz, Germany. This manufacturer counts on raw materials from Dorfner, whose high quality is very convincing, also for medical applications.

Schott manufactures more than 11 billion pharmaceutical packages for vaccines and liquid medication. For Corona vaccines alone, 2 billion vials are to be delivered by the end of 2021. In spite of these huge amounts, every single injection vial must meet the strictest quality requirements. They are intended to hold valuable medications, transport them and dispense them directly to the patient.

Schott calls its borosilicate glass for the manufacturing of sensitive pharmaceutical packaging its “gold standard”. In order to manufacture this special glass, in addition to its highly sophisticated production processes, the company counts on high quality raw materials, which are also procured from Hirschau in the Oberpfalz in Germany. Gebrüder Dorfner GmbH & Co. Kaolin- und Kristallquarzsand-Werke KG has been delivering high end glass sand of the highest quality for the “Schott Tubing” production in the nearby town of Mitterteich. The basis for this carefully refined sands in Dorfner plants, is mined directly in the quartz pits, which are some of the best in all of Europe when it comes to raw material quality. The pharmaceutical glass vials of the Mitterteich Schott production for the much needed Corona vaccine vials have become a real regional quality product – manufactured using the best raw materials of the Oberpfalz.

Günter Forkel