Berlin
Germany has secured 48.6 million doses of the US-made Moderna vaccine against coronavirus, Health Minister Jens Spahn announced Tuesday.
“We have secured 48.6 million doses from the 180 million doses earmarked for the European Union,” the minister said during a coronavirus news conference.
He did not rule out that the EU could give the green light to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on December 23.
If that is the case, he said, vaccination could begin in a matter of days.
Moderna is next in line for EU approval. Spahn defended the drawn-out process of vaccine rollout, saying experimental drugs would not be given emergency authorization to “create trust” in them.
Germany has been struggling to contain the second wave of infections. It reported 14,432 new cases and 500 virus-related deaths on Tuesday, taking the total infection tally past 1.35 million and deaths to 22,475.—Agencies
