Germany to build up reserve vaccine capacity to fight future pandemics

Berlin: Germany plans to pay vaccine manufacturers an annual reservation fee to build up reserve capacity of 600-700 million doses per year to help it fight future pandemics, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday.

The government plans to launch a call for tenders for so-called pandemic preparedness contracts with a five-year term, he told a news conference. "We in the government have agreed that we want to provide capacity for production of vaccines in and for Germany," Spahn said, adding this could be activated very quickly so that vaccine production could start at short notice.