In Germany, criticism of the government and the European Commission is growing because of the limited number of vaccines available. The procurement and distribution of coronavaccines is regulated by the committee, but there are increasing votes that Germany should have bought for itself.
“ The Biontech/Pfizer vaccine was developed in Germany and other countries are taking off with it,” critics say, referring to Israel and Britain, among others, where a much larger proportion of the population has already been vaccinated.
Offer of additional vaccines repulsed
In total, the commission ordered more than two billion doses of vaccine from six different producers. Most of these decisions were taken when it was not clear which vaccine would be authorised first. So logical to spread the risk and not bet on a horse, most people agree with that.
The criticism focuses on the decision of the committee to reject an offer from both BionTech and Moderna to buy extra. The companies came up with this in November, when it was already clear that these two vaccines had a great chance of being admitted first.
Why the committee turned down the company‘s offers is not clear. The protocols of the relevant submission shall not be released. An obvious reason is the price. BionTech and Moderna vaccines are much more expensive than, for example, those from AstraZeneca. A Moderna vaccine costs eighteen euros per dose, the Biontech vaccine 12, that of AstraZeneca only 1.76 euros.
For a long time there was the hope that AstraZeneca would be the first to obtain permission, but that hope expied at the end of November when they had to re-study due to unclear results.
‘Blamage without display‘
A number of major German newspapers, including boulevard newspaper Bild and Die Welt, are certain: the German government has failed. There has been far too little purchase of Biontech vaccine, too much trust in the EU. Die Welt calls it a “blamage without a display.” “If we continue at this rate, it will take us until 2033 before we are all vaccinated,” writes in chief editor Ulf Poschardt in a comment.
The German parliament also criticizes the government’s vaccination strategy. “In November it was already clear that BionTech had developed a very good vaccine, when the government had already signed bilateral contracts,” says SPD‘er Lars Klingbeil. “It cannot be the case that the country in which the vaccine was developed has, in the end, too few doses.” He wants the government to deal with the producers immediately to order. Money should not be an issue, he says. “The lockdown costs us almost four billion euros every week.”
Coordination from
The German government sees nothing in such a national approach. Merkel would have urged her Health Minister for Coordination from Brussels. Her spokesman Steffen Seibert today: “We are convinced that that was and is the right way.” According to Seibert, it would not have changed the current situation if Germany had ordered solo. He’s asking for patience. “It has always been clear that in the beginning there would be tightness.”
The European Commission also repels and points out that more orders would not have helped because there is insufficient production capacity. “There is enough vaccine for everyone, but it was always clear that it would be on the market step by step, with really large quantities only in April,” says EC spokesman Eric Mamer. “That is why it is very surprising that everyone now wonders why not everything is already there.”