BERLIN (AP) — Germany plans to spend another 830 million euros ($872 million) to buy new coronavirus vaccines that will allow the country to deal with a number of potential variants this fall, the health minister said Wednesday.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said the government – through the European Union – had already ordered enough of the existing vaccines and one developed by Germany’s BioNTech to counteract the omicron variant. He said the new funding will go toward a vaccine Moderna is developing to address both omicron and other variants.
“We are betting on a broad portfolio of vaccines and we must be prepared for all eventualities,” said Lauterbach. “We don’t know which variants will face us in the fall.”
“A lesson from the pandemic is that we never want to have insufficient vaccines again,” he added, alluding to the slow start of the EU and Germany’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign early last year. “We want to be able to offer a fourth chance to everyone who needs it or wants it.”
However, the minister left open the possibility of whether a fourth vaccine will be recommended for all. He said that would depend on the variant that comes out later this year.
The existing recommendation from Germany’s independent advisory panel on vaccines, issued in February, calls for an additional booster for people aged 70 and over among other high-risk groups, including nursing home residents, people with immunocompromise and the medical staff.
There is little demand for vaccines in Germany at present, with an average of just 48,000 vaccines given per day in the last week. So far, only 5.6% of the population have received a second booster shot.
However, Lauterbach indicated that the vaccination centers will remain open and that they will receive a maximum of 100 million euros a month in funds from the federal government.
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