International solidarity against the coronavirus still seems to be perfectible. The government of Angela Merkel accused the United States of Donald Trump on Sunday evening of having attempted to appropriate a project for a vaccine against the coronavirus developed by a German laboratory.
Two German ministers confirmed the truth of the information published the same day by the German daily Die Welt. The subject is to be raised on Monday by the government's "crisis committee" responsible for piloting the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, which has so far affected nearly 5,000 people in Germany and has left 12 dead.
"The German government is very interested that the development of vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus be carried out in Germany and in Europe," confirmed a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Die Welt.
Trump wants exclusivity
In the center of the showdown, we find the German laboratory CureVac, located in Tübingen in the south-west of the country. He is one of those around the world working on a Covid-19 vaccine, receiving grants from the German government. He claims to be "a few months away" from being able to present a project for clinical validation.
But according to the German newspaper, the American president, Donald Trump, is trying to attract millions of dollars from German scientists working on this potential vaccine or to obtain exclusivity for his country by investing in the company. The vaccine would then be "only for the United States," a source close to the German government told the newspaper.
A US government official, interviewed by AFP on Sunday, said the case was "greatly exaggerated." Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Washington had spoken to more than 25 pharmaceutical companies and assured that "any solution that comes up will be shared with the rest of the world."
A rivalry but no "purchase offer", according to the company
Only, the surprise departure of the CEO of the CureVac company last week is causing confusion. The man had been personally invited by the US president on March 3 to the White House to discuss "a rapid development of a vaccine against the coronavirus", according to a press release from this laboratory. Resistance seems to have been organized on the German side, and in particular within the company concerned, in the face of American inclinations.
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The German Minister for the Economy thus welcomed the "formidable decision" of CureVac to refuse American advances. A company official, Franz-Werner Haas, for his part confirmed Washington's interest but said that there had been no "offer to purchase".