Germany's health minister expects that by early 2021 the country can get its hands on a much-anticipated COVID treatment, believing that a large percentage of its people could be vaccinated within six to seven months.
In an interview with a media group, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that healthcare personnel would be given priority in the vaccination. He was quoted by Der Spiegel as saying Friday that the government could have access to treatment as early as January or February or March but stressed there would be no mandatory vaccination.
The health official, who himself was diagnosed with COVID-19 this week, said he anticipates there would be more than enough supply of the vaccine for Germany, and he would like to distribute any excess vaccines to other countries that may need them.
According to Spahn, it would be best if a COVID vaccine could avert new infections. "But it would also be a benefit if it makes the course of the disease milder," Reuters quoted him as saying in the interview with the German weekly news magazine.
Germany granted $745 million in funding to pharmaceutical groups CureVac and BioNTech last month to fast-track efforts on COVID-19 vaccines and ramp up the government's manufacturing volumes. Based on reports, the country is seeking to secure around 60 vaccination centers nationwide to be able to efficiently protect the people.
Germany's infection cases have been on the rise in the past weeks. Based on the information provided by health authorities Friday, the number of confirmed infections climbed by over 10,000 in just one day for the first time in as many months.
The health ministry has asked the country's 16 state governors to monitor and identify potential locations for the establishment of vaccination facilities by November 10, the Daily Bild disclosed.
The vaccination facilities are very important in order to guarantee the safety effectiveness of the treatment, authorities said. The vaccine will have to be kept cool at -78c, however, the government is now addressing issues concerning the lack of many medical practices of the needed efficient cooling equipment.
German biotechnology company BioNTech and American multinational pharmaceutical group Pfizer announced Tuesday the start of consolidated first and second stage clinical tests of their mRNA-based experimental treatment against COVID in Japan.
Their candidate COVID vaccine test in the U.S. is seen to yield preliminary results before the end of October. They already have one potential COVID vaccine in an advanced-phase test that is currently being evaluated on around 30,000 participants.