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Health Minister Jens Spahn (archive photo)
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John MacDougall / AFP
After the approval of the first corona vaccines, possibly as early as the end of this year, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) expects an increasing willingness to vaccinate in Germany.
"I am convinced that once we have put this tough, difficult Corona winter behind us together, the willingness to get vaccinated will increase," said Spahn on Monday during a visit to the vaccine manufacturer IDT Biologika in Dessau.
He emphasized that it was a vaccination offer - and confirmed again that there will be no compulsory vaccination.
According to Spahn, there is “justified reason” to assume that a vaccine against the coronavirus will be available by the beginning of next year at the latest.
Perhaps vaccination could start at the end of this year, he added.
It is now a matter of building structures for the vaccination campaign.
"We want to be prepared," said the Minister of Health.
This is done in cooperation between the federal government, the federal states and the medical profession.
"There is a way out and we are on the right track on this way," said Spahn.
So far, three different companies have successfully tested their vaccine candidates: Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca / University of Oxford.
Biontech and Pfizer have already applied for emergency approval for their corona vaccine in the United States.
In a Forsa survey published almost two weeks ago for the broadcasters RTL and n-tv, 40 percent said they wanted to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as possible.
Half of the respondents would probably wait and see.
Nine percent do not want to be vaccinated at all.
Another vector vaccine in development
IDT Biologika in Saxony-Anhalt is one of the companies that is working on a corona vaccine in collaboration with research institutes and universities.
Unlike Biontech, for example, IDT is working on a so-called vector vaccine, which is based on a vaccine against smallpox developed several decades ago.
In principle, well-known, harmless viruses serve as a starting point.
Researchers use genetic engineering to replace surface proteins with Sars-CoV-2 proteins, so that they simulate a corona infection in the immune system.
This is supposed to help the body build up immune protection.
After completing all clinical trials, IDT expects the vaccine to be approved by the end of 2021.
The federal government signed a contract with the company for the purchase of at least five million vaccine doses and already gave 30 million euros of the purchase price for investments in production capacities.
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