Germany to build up reserve vaccine capacity to fight future pandemics

Health Minister Jens Spahn

Germany plans to pay vaccine manufacturers an annual reservation fee to build up reserve capacity of around 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 so that vaccine doses "can be activated quickly if the worst comes to the worst," Spahn told a news conference.

Manufacturing setbacks and an over-reliance on European Union approval for supplies slowed Germany's rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. It wants to boost domestic production to ensure it is not deprived of shots in future pandemics.

To that end, it set up a vaccine task force in February that aims to reduce bottlenecks by ensuring production of vital products in the supply chain like glass vials and lipids.