LebTown (wuestenigel. licensed under CC BY 2.0) It can be easy to overlook what’s obvious. Drug makers are finally producing COVID-19 vaccines, and, despite some early glitches, plans are being made for widespread inoculations. But there has to be something to transport a drug between the factory and a patient’s arm. That “something” at its most fundamental is a small vial made from a special pharmaceutical grade glass. It might even be one of the quarter billion vials Schott Pharmaceutical Systems manufactures at its South Lebanon Township plant annually. Schott makes “pharmaceutical primary packaging” out of glass: syringes, vials, ampoules, cartridges, and specialized tubing. The Lebanon plant is the global firm’s only pharmaceutical packaging plant in the U.S.A., and one of 17 in Schott’s worldwide network.