Footnote 14: Spot the Odd Thing Edition

Let's see how fast you are about this … (doh)

Before going to bed last night, I saw the below picture over at Covidistan daily Der Standard:

Below the picture, the text reads (my emphasis):

Germany Buys Vaccines Intended for Romania

Germany on Tuesday secured 5m BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses that were actually intended for Romania, according to the German Health Ministry. They came from the EU-sponsored quota acquisition deal, but the vaccines were not needed by Romania. The doses shall be available in the week beginning 24 Jan. 2022 The German government had set a target of 30 million more vaccinations by the end of January.

A total of about 32m vaccine doses are to be available in Germany, consisting of 12m from BioNTech/Pfizer and 20m from Moderna. This would render boosters available for everyone who wanted them in the next three weeks. The picture shows the first shipment of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine that reached Bucharest, Romania, on 26. Dec. 2020, delivered by two soldiers and a truck driver (left).

Here’s my trick question

Now, seeing this picture, I was wondering: shouldn’t the vaccines be refrigerated at very low temperatures? At least that’s what the CDC is telling everyone:

Store vaccine in an ultra-cold freezer, thermal shipping container, freezer, or refrigerator. See guidance below for each storage unit.

So: what’s the time period before the jabs spoil? Is there a ‘best before’ date?