Berlin is trying to stop Washington from persuading a German company seeking a vaccine to the virus to move its research to the United States, prompting German politicians to insist no country should have a monopoly on any future vaccine.
German government sources said on Sunday that the U.S. administration was looking into how it could gain access to a potential vaccine being developed by a German firm, CureVac.
Earlier, the Welt am Sonntag German newspaper reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had offered funds to lure CureVac to the United States, and the German government was making counter-offers to tempt it to stay. “The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe,” a Health Ministry spokeswoman said, confirming a quote in the newspaper. “In this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company CureVac,” she added.
Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Mr. Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”
A German Economy Ministry spokeswoman also said Berlin “has a great interest” in producing vaccines in Germany and Europe.
She declined to comment on any takeover possibilities but referred to Germany’s foreign trade law, under which Berlin can examine takeover bids from non-EU, so-called third countries “if national or European security interests are at stake”.
Florian von der Muelbe, CureVac’s chief production officer and co-founder, said last week the company had started with a multitude of vaccine candidates and was now selecting the two best to go into clinical trials.
The privately-held company based in Tuebingen, Germany hopes to have an experimental vaccine ready by June or July to then seek the go-ahead from regulators for testing on humans.
