BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany is ordering vaccines for 2022 if regular or booster doses are needed to keep the population immune to variants of COVID-19, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Saturday amid growing frustration at Europe with the slow pace of vaccination.
Speaking at an online prefecture of health professionals, Spahn defended the progress made in obtaining and administering vaccines, saying that 2.3 million of the 83 million Germans have already received a dose.
European governments faced criticism about supply and production bottlenecks, as vaccine manufacturers AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna announced cuts in delivery volumes, as well as expected to increase production.
Germany – Europe’s largest economy – was hurt by a second blockade introduced in November, and many in the general public are looking with envy at the faster rate of vaccination in Britain, Israel and the United States.
“In fact, we are ordering more vaccines for 2022, to have at least some available,” said Spahn. “Nobody knows if we will need reinforcement … With the increased production capacity, we will ask for vaccines as a precaution. If we don’t need it, great, but if we need it then it’s available. “
Some of Germany’s powerful regional premieres joined the chorus of criticism of the federal government on Saturday, ahead of Monday’s meeting of a new vaccination task force that will bring together national and regional actors around the same table with pharmaceutical companies and representatives of the European Union.
Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder has proposed new rules allowing the state to have more say in targeting vaccine delivery to those who need it most.
“We need an emergency vaccine economy in which the state sets clear rules,” he told the newspaper Die Welt, asking authorities to consider authorizing Chinese and Russian vaccines for use in Europe.
Authorities reported 13,321 new infections in Germany on Saturday and 794 deaths, although the number of cases per 100,000 people in seven days has dropped from three to 91. The government says the number must be below 50 to prevent hospitals from becoming overcrowded .
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Clelia Oziel)