Friday 18th December 2020
Biontech offered more units
EU could have bought more vaccination doses
The EU is to receive up to 300 million doses from the Biontech vaccine. However, according to a report, the company offered many more units. Moderna could also have supplied more of its own vaccine. The price could have played a role in the orders.
According to a report, the European Union could have bought more of the corona vaccine from the manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer than the up to 300 million doses ordered. Biontech had offered up to 500 million units, quoted the "Spiegel" from negotiating circles.
The company Moderna could have supplied the EU with more of its vaccine than the agreed 160 million units, said company boss Stephane Bancel the magazine. The two vaccines are the first to be approved in the EU. In the case of Biontech / Pfizer, this is expected for next week, in the case of Moderna in early January. In Germany, vaccinations are to begin on December 27th.
A spokesman for the EU Commission did not want to comment on the course of the negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies that the Brussels authority conducted on behalf of all 27 EU countries. However, he said the goal was to have a broad portfolio of different providers with different technologies. This would have increased the chances of getting an effective and inexpensive vaccine against the coronavirus.
Conventional vaccines are cheaper
The price of the vaccines developed by Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna using a novel process is many times higher than that of conventional products such as those that Astrazeneca wants to bring onto the market. This conventional vaccine would also not need to be stored at extremely low temperatures. However, their development is currently slower, the time of approval is open.
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach told "Spiegel": "Germany could also buy additional vaccines bilaterally directly from companies, and I think we should do that too." But the production capacities of Biontech and Moderna are largely used up by the summer. The vaccinations will take months to complete anyway. To stop the corona pandemic, experts estimate that around 60 to 70 percent of the population would have to be vaccinated; that would be up to 58 million people in Germany.
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