The German neighbors Austria and Denmark are planning to work with Israel in the fight against Covid-19.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz now commented on this decision.
Update from March 1, 10:38 p.m
.: The German neighbors Denmark and Austria no longer want to rely on the EU alone in the fight against the corona virus.
Instead, they plan to collaborate on vaccine research and production with Israel.
For this purpose, Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen want to meet the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next Thursday (see first report from February 27, 2021).
Opposite
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declared short now that decision.
"We agreed in the summer that vaccines would be procured by the EU for the member states in good time and approved quickly," said the Austrian Chancellor.
In principle, he thought this approach was correct, but the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was too slow to approve vaccines and there were delivery bottlenecks at pharmaceutical companies.
"We therefore have to prepare for further mutations and should no longer only be dependent on the EU for the production of second-generation vaccinations," Kurz continued.
In the summer you will be able to return to normal with the vaccination, but the pandemic is far from over.
Mainly because of the emerging mutations, one will be busy with her for a long time: "We have to prepare for this and the phase after the summer in good time."
Vaccine: Austria and Denmark plan to work closely with Israel
First report from February 27, 2021
: Vienna - "The crisis is not a sprint, but a long-distance run" - In April 2020, Health Minister Jens Spahn compared the ongoing Corona * pandemic * with a marathon.
Now, around a year later, it is becoming increasingly clear that he hit the bull's eye with this metaphor.
A long-distance run requires more than just speed, on the contrary: stamina is particularly important.
The coronavirus continues to be a major challenge for all countries in the world. For a long-term fight against the virus, the German neighbors Austria and Denmark now want to agree a close cooperation with Israel on the research and production of vaccines * and medicines.
Coronavirus: Austria and Denmark are planning a joint cause with Israel
Since Israel is way ahead in the fight against Covid-19, especially when it comes to vaccination, Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next Thursday, as Kurz and Frederiksen announced on Saturday.
"Our first priority is to accelerate the production and procurement of vaccines for the future," said Kurz on Twitter.
The aim must be to prepare for the phase after the summer, even in the face of possible further mutations.
Because Israel is the country in the world that is far ahead in the fight against Covid-19 when it comes to vaccination, explained Frederiksen.
At the same time, the country is interesting for the development of vaccines and treatment methods.
She is therefore looking forward to the meeting so that the cooperation and the exchange of experiences with Israel can pick up even more momentum.
With the green passport for vaccinated people, Israel has meanwhile enabled those affected to largely return to normalcy.
Kurz is a strong advocate of such a project in the EU as well.
Coronavirus: Austria and Denmark want to work with Israel
In Austria, which reopened all shops and many services three weeks ago, the number of new infections every day is well over 2000, which, taking into account the population of Germany, would correspond to 18,000.
The government in Vienna wants to decide on further steps on Monday.
In a European comparison, Denmark currently has one of the lowest numbers of new infections of all EU countries.
Nevertheless, the Danes continue to worry about the British virus variant, which is now the dominant one in the country.
From Monday, some corona measures in the country will be relaxed, including large parts of the retail sector will be reopened after more than two months.
(
dpa / jbr
)
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