Angela Merkel: COVID vaccines could be necessary 'for years' [View all]

[Klaralven]

If vaccines do not work on variants of the virus, then "we start all over again," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. At a meeting with state premiers, she also defended the slower rollout of Europe's vaccine program.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said coronavirus vaccines may be needed for "many years to come."

"It's similar to the flu vaccine, where you re-vaccinate against the new mutation of the virus every time," Merkel said in Berlin after a top-level meeting on Germany's vaccination campaign on Monday.

Merkel added that her government had received the assurances it needed to renew a promise to offer all Germans a coronavirus vaccination by the end of the summer.

The "statement that we will be able to offer every citizen a vaccination by the end of the third quarter" can be maintained, the chancellor said. This promise was possible despite delays to some deliveries, she said, because the government had received reassurances about the vaccine stocks that would arrive per quarter.

https://www.dw.com/en/angela-merkel-covid-vaccines-could-be-necessary-for-years/a-56406591