February 1 German Chancellor Merkel said on the 1st that Germany’s goal of “providing all citizens with a coronavirus vaccine before the end of this summer” can be achieved.
Merkel held a videoconference with German governors and several vaccine manufacturers on the same day to discuss the vaccine supply.
“After the exchange, the availability of vaccines was clearer and the forecast of supply was more reliable,” she said at a press conference after the meeting.
Merkel said that if nothing unexpected, even if only three coronavirus vaccines approved by the European Union are supplied, the above goal can still be achieved, and if other vaccines are approved, the supply will be larger.
Although the EU’s vaccine production capacity is still limited in the first quarter of this year, the situation is expected to improve in the second quarter.
The European Union has now approved three coronavirus vaccines for use, developed by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company and Biotechnology Company of Germany, Modena Company of the United States, AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Company of the United Kingdom and Oxford University.
According to Merkel, the coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson in the United States and the German “healing” vaccine company is also expected to be approved.
Germany launched the coronavirus vaccination at the end of December last year, and various places have encountered problems such as uncertain vaccine supply and difficult appointment.
Merkel said that the government will supplement the development of a vaccination plan to better understand the availability of vaccines, and will also set up a platform to coordinate the production and distribution of vaccine-related materials.
According to the data released by the Robert Koch Institute of Disease Control and Prevention in Germany, as of 00:00 on February 1, there were 5,608 new confirmed cases in Germany in a single day, with a total of 222,1971; 175 new deaths, with a total of 57,120; as of 10:00 on February 1, vaccinations had exceeded 2.46 million.
