German Health Minister Calls for Vaccine Stockpile
Voice of America
Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, Thursday stressed the need for Germany to stock up on COVID-19 vaccine for possible repeat shots next year, and said the nation should do so with or without the rest of the European Union.
Spahn made the remarks during a Berlin virtual news briefing on the countries COVID-19 vaccination program and to mark the opening of BioNTech's plant in Marburg, Germany. He said the new plant provides Germany with an opportunity to plan for the possible need for additional doses of vaccine. Spahn said at this point no one has been vaccinated for longer than a few months and no one knows how long protection will last, and there may be a need for third and fourth shots next year. He said Germany would be obtaining those vaccine doses on its own if EU members did not see the urgency.FILE - U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 14, 2017. FILE - A migrant from China identifies himself to a U.S. Border Patrol agent after surrendering with a group that was smuggled across the Rio Grande into the United States from Mexico, in Fronton, Texas, April 4, 2023.
FILE - A customer makes a sports bet at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City N.J. on March 17, 2022 just before the March Madness NCAA college basketball tournament began. FILE - Fox Sports broadcaster Greg Olsen retrieves his receipt after placing the first ceremonial bet in North Carolina during a DraftKings event celebrating the launch of mobile and online sports wagering, March 11, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C.
This undated photo shows a mouse feeding on the head of a wandering albatross chick on Marion Island, South Africa. Mice are breeding out of control because of climate change, eating seabirds and causing major harm in a special nature reserve. (Stefan and Janine Schoombie via AP) This undated photo shows two wandering albatrosses on Marion Island, part of the Prince Edwards Islands, a South African territory in the southern Indian Ocean near Antarctica. (Anton Wolfaardt via AP) This undated photo shows a house mouse on Marion Island, South Africa. (Stefan and Janine Schoombie via AP) This undated photo shows a research base on Marion Island, South Africa. (Anton Wolfaardt via AP)
Patients can enter the Alliance Healthcare System hospital in Holly Springs, Mississippi, only through the emergency room and the small admittance office at the side after the facility transitioned to a rural emergency hospital. Alliance Healthcare System hospital CEO Kenneth Williams said on Feb. 29, 2024, that after the Holly Springs, Mississippi, facility was approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the federal government later reneged on its decision, saying the hospital is not rural,