Germany: Coronavirus vaccine unlikely to be widely available before mid-2021

Berlin, Germany: German Research Minister Anja Karliczek said on Wednesday, July 29 that a coronavirus vaccine was unlikely to be widely available before the middle of next year.

"We must continue to assume that vaccines for the broader population will only be available from the middle of next year at the earliest," she told a news conference. Germany's BioNTech and Curevac are in the race to develop messenger-RNA vaccines while Dessau-based IDT Biologika is developing a viral vaccine, said Karliczek. 

"It is important that national and international efforts go hand in hand. That is why we have to work in multiple directions if we want to ensure that vaccines are available quickly and in sufficient quantities. We want to ensure that different groups can be supplied with a vaccine that is tailored to their needs. In the end, all citizens who want to be vaccinated should be given the opportunity to do so." also said Anja Karliczek.

The World Health Organization lists 11 experimental vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19 as currently being tested on humans, according to a table posted on its website.