Test studies of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate Sputnik V are being conducted in Russia.
Sefa Karacan | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
According to a spokeswoman for her office, Chancellor Angela Merkel is ‘open’ to the idea of producing Russia’s coronavirus vaccine in the European Union.
Germany has so far delivered the highest number of vaccinations among the 27 European countries since its inception in late December. However, there are big differences in the bloc, where the Netherlands, for example, only started vaccinating on Wednesday.
The EU has been criticized for a slow deployment of Covid-19 vaccines compared to other parts of the world, with the US, China and Israel among those at the forefront in terms of the number of doses administered.
Merkel on Tuesday discussed the response to the Covid-19 pandemic with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Politico, Ulrike Demmer, deputy spokesperson for the German government, said during the phone call that she was’ open to the idea of bilateral cooperation to utilize European production capacity (for the Russian vaccine). .
A German government spokesman in Brussels confirmed the same statement to CNBC.
Germany has made it clear that this would only happen if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its approval to the Sputnik V vaccine.
European regulators approved the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine last month and the Moderna’s sting on Wednesday. However, the EMA has not yet received a formal request to evaluate the Russian Covid vaccine for administration across the EU.
The Russian Gamaleya Institute, the developers of the Sputnik V vaccine, said on Tuesday that more than 1 million people had been stabbed, the Financial Times reported.
Vaccines for everyone
Earlier this week, Germany announced a further tightening of social restrictions, with schools closing until 31 January.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday that there would be a vaccine for ‘everyone’ this year. “By 2021, we will secure 50 million vaccine doses from Moderna and 90 million from BioNTech. That alone is enough to give almost everyone a vaccination,” Spahn told German television channel ZDF.
Germany has about 83 million citizens.
Spahn spoke to reporters on Wednesday, saying “if all goes well” there will be a new Pfizer BioNTech plant in February to expand the number of vaccines available in Europe. BioNTech is a biotechnology company located in Mainz, a city on the Rhine River in west-central Germany.