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 that this could be activated very quickly so that vaccine production could start at short notice.
Photo: AFP 照片:法新社
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 that it is not deprived of shots in future pandemics.
In February, it set up a vaccine production task force with the aim of building up domestic production and reducing bottlenecks in the supply chain.
Germany will also set up a center for pandemic vaccines at its vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Spahn said.
Germany is home to BioNTech and CureVac, two of the leading developers of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, as well as pharmaceutical giants Bayer and Merck and many small and medium-sized suppliers.
The German plan is one of more than half a dozen by governments around the world to avert shortages by supporting drug companies’ local production.
Some, including Australia, Brazil, Japan and Thailand, are setting up manufacturing partnerships with drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC.
Elsewhere, Italy has pledged state backing for a public-private vaccine production centre, while Austria, Denmark and Israel plan a joint research and development fund and will explore whether to produce their own next-generation vaccines.
(Reuters)
德國衛生部長延斯‧史巴恩上週三表示,德國計劃支付疫苗生產商年度訂金,以建立每年六至七億劑的儲備生產量能,幫助抵抗未來之疫病。
史巴恩在記者會中表示,德國政府規劃了以五年為一期的所謂疫情戰備合約,並將進行招標。
「政府已同意要提供疫苗產能,以在德國製造疫苗,並供德國使用」,史巴恩表示,並補充說這可能會很快啟動,以便疫苗生產可在接獲命令後立即開始。
製造上的挫折,以及過度依賴歐盟批准其供應,減緩了德國推出COVID-19疫苗之速度。德國希望提高國內產量,以確保在未來的疫情中不會發生疫苗數量不足的窘境。
德國在二月成立了一個疫苗生產專門小組,旨在增進國內生產,並減少供應鏈中的瓶頸。
史巴恩表示,德國亦將在負責審批疫苗的官方機構「保羅艾爾立希研究所」設立一個大流行疫情之疫苗中心。
德國是BioNTech及CureVac這兩家mRNA疫苗開發領頭羊之所在地,境內並有製藥巨頭拜耳、默克,以及許多中小型供應商。
與德國此計畫類同,已有六個以上的國家以政府之力來支持藥商在本土製造疫苗,以避免疫苗供應短缺。
包括澳洲、巴西、日本及泰國在內的一些國家,正與製藥商阿斯特捷利康建立製造合作夥伴關係。
而在其他國家,義大利已承諾以國家之力支持建立民間與政府合作的疫苗生產中心,奧地利、丹麥與以色列則計劃設置聯合研發基金,並將研究是否自行生產新一代的疫苗。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
A: Wow, three Taiwanese restaurants just won the 2024 “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” awards. B: Awesome! Which three restaurants? A: Taipei’s Logy at No. 22 and MUME at No. 34, and Taichung’s JL Studio at No. 33. B: Actually, there are many more great establishments in Taipei. How about other Asian cities? A: Singapore claimed nine spots this year, making it Asia’s new “food capital.” A: 2024「亞洲50最佳餐廳」名單揭曉了,台灣有3家餐廳上榜。 B: 好厲害,哪3家? A: 台北的Logy和MUME分獲第22和34名,台中的JL Studio獲第33名! B: 其實台北還有很多好餐廳,那其他的亞洲城市呢? A: 新加坡今年入選9家,可說是亞洲美食之都。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Let’s explore another delicacy primarily known to Tainan locals: floating milkfish in thick soup. Despite its peculiar name, this dish is another Tainan specialty that showcases the popularity of milkfish, which is made into fish paste and served in thick soup. Unlike the version with tutuo fish, which also adds other ingredients to its thick soup, the floating milkfish version primarily features the “floating fish” itself in its thick soup, ensuring that the fish paste remains the star of the dish. 讓我們來探索另一道台南人熟悉的美食:浮水魚羹。這道菜名奇特的美食,再再展現了台南虱目魚料理的多樣。浮水魚羹是用虱目魚漿做成的羹品,雖然和𩵚魠魚羹一樣是羹湯,但不像𩵚魠魚羹會在湯中加入其他食材,而是讓虱目魚漿成為這道料理的主角。 peculiar (adj.) 獨特的;古怪的 The belly of a milkfish is considered the most
The practice of freezing embryos as part of in vitro fertilization (IVF) was thrown into chaos in Alabama this year, when the state supreme court ruled that such embryos should be considered children, exposing clinics to wrongful death claims in the event they are destroyed in the thawing process. In 2021, more than 80 percent of US IVF procedures involved the transfer of frozen embryos, according to a recent report by the US Department of Health and Human Services. HOW IS EMBRYO FREEZING USED IN IVF? IVF uses high doses of hormones to stimulate ovaries to produce as many eggs as possible. Once
A situation puzzle is a game in which one person describes a scenario and asks the players to explain it. The situation is deliberately lacking in details, but the players may acquire more information by asking questions — however, these can only be answered with “yes” or “no.” A player wins by describing the approximate events that led up to the situation. To do so, they must use a blend of logical and lateral thinking. A famous example of this is sometimes known as “Turtle Soup.” Here’s the riddle: “A man in a restaurant orders turtle soup, tastes it