Germany Expects ’10 Tough Weeks’ Ahead of Vaccine Delivery Shortage

Germany Expects ’10 Tough Weeks’ Ahead of Vaccine Delivery Shortage.

GERMAN Health Minister Jans Spahn took to Twitter to announce that Germany “will still have at least 10 tough weeks with a shortage of vaccines” and he also explains that he plans to meet with regional leaders to agree on the campaign of vaccination.

Spahn said that vaccine production cannot be rushed despite the delay: “Vaccine production cannot be built up in four weeks simply because the quality has to be very good to protect the citizens [of Germany].”

The health minister’s comment comes after it was reported last week that the EU will receive 60 per cent fewer doses of the vaccine than promised for January-March 2021.

A meeting on Wednesday between EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot failed to achieve any commitments from the drug company to address a “massive” bottleneck in the production of coronavirus vaccines.

Kyriakides said: “We regret the continued lack of clarity on the delivery schedule and ask AstraZeneca to provide a clear plan for the quick delivery of the amount of vaccines we have reserved for Q1.”

Meanwhile, Soriot accused the EU of having been three months slower than the UK in signing the purchase contracts for the vaccine.

To protect German citizens, Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced on Tuesday (January 26) that the German government intends to reduce international flights “to almost zero” and restrict non-essential travel to the country as much as possible.

“The danger derived from the multiple mutations [of Covid] forces us to consider drastic measures,” said Seehofer, without specifying those plans. Among the measures that are “being studied” is a tightening of border controls, especially with the regions of maximum risk.

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