Angela Merkel ‘blocked bid to secure more coronavirus vaccine’

Angela Merkel blocked an initiative by her health minister Jens Spahn (left) to order more vaccine

Credit: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/ Bloomberg

Angela Merkel came under fire on Monday after it emerged she intervened personally to block a bid by European health ministers to secure larger orders of coronavirus vaccine over the summer.

Public anger is growing across the continent at the European Union’s failure to order enough doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine which was developed in Germany and manufactured in Belgium.

But it now appears Mrs Merkel blocked an initiative by the German, French, Italian and Dutch health ministers to order more stocks of  vaccine last summer.

Bild newspaper published a leaked letter from the four health ministers to Ursula von der Leyen in which they agreed to drop the initiative and hand over control of vaccine orders to the European Commission.

According to the newspaper, the letter was written under pressure from Mrs Merkel, who wanted to send a signal of solidarity at the start of Germany’s six-month EU presidency.

“We believe that it is of utmost importance to have a common joint and single approach towards the various pharmaceutical companies,” the four ministers wrote.

“We also consider that speed is of the essence in this case. So we deem it very useful if the Commission takes the lead in this process.”

Jean-Claude Juncker compared himself to Pope Benedict 

Credit: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP

In fact, Europe began to fall behind in the race to secure sufficient stocks after the Commission took over.

The four ministers had already negotiated an order for 400m doses of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, but the Commission became locked in protracted negotiations as the UK and US secured large orders.

The row came with the European Medicine Agency (EMA) poised to approve the Moderna vaccine this week. It will become the second vaccine approved for use in the EU, following the Pfzier-BioNTech vaccine.

Jean-Claude Juncker, Mrs von der Leyen’s predecessor as commission president, spoke out against the EU’s response to the virus, telling Luxembourg’s Télécran magazine the bloc had “reacted very weakly”. But he added that the EU was hamstrung by the fact member states retain control of health policy.

Mr Juncker claimed he continues to act as an unofficial advisor to Mrs von der Leyen, and compared himself the former Pope Benedict XVI.

“I always say I am like Ratzinger in the Vatican Gardens: I am their Ratzinger,” Mr Juncker said, using Pope Benedict’s birth name. 

“She likes it a lot, and it gives us the opportunity to exchange ideas from time to time, which is very useful for both of us. I’m von der Leyen’s Ratzinger.”