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)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of