BERLIN, June 2 (Reuters) - 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.
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.
South Africa registered 5,782 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative total to 1,675,013. A further 110 Covid-19-related deaths were reported, taking total deaths to 56,711.