Austria’s largest corona vaccination line opened its doors for the last time on Friday at the Austria Center Vienna, the daily vaccination figures against the SARS-CoV-2 virus are now often in the three-digit range; last Wednesday, for example, there were 580 nationwide. What remains are millions of different vaccines against the virus, namely 20.9 million according to information from the Ministry of Health, of which 4.4 million have already expired.
According to the Berlin Ministry of Health, stocks in Germany amounted to no less than 116 million doses of corona vaccine (as of the end of February 2023). Here, however, the delivery of almost 111 million cans worth about 2.5 billion euros was still pending, in Austria there are still 11.7 million cans to come.
Vaccine should probably be thrown away
Expired vaccines will be thrown away, but with the restriction “unless the EMA approves a further shelf life extension,” the ministry said, confirming domestic figures from an orf.at report. According to this, an additional 6.8 million vaccine doses will have reached their expiration date in the months of April to June 2023.
So that vaccines can be used elsewhere instead of expiring, Austria also donated 9.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to third countries, five million of them in 2022 (as of January 2023) – most of the vaccines went to the international initiative “COVID -19 United Nations Global Access to Vaccines (COVAX).
Rauch angry about EU negotiations
Just over two weeks ago, Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) expressed his dissatisfaction with the negotiations on a contract change with the manufacturers of the corona vaccines in Brussels. The EU Commission should be tougher on this; Austria, together with the other EU Member States, wants to achieve a reduction in delivery quantities and costs and to spread deliveries over several years. However, it has been agreed not to disclose the details of the negotiations, the ministry said.
Rauch called the corona vaccination “a success story” on Friday. The development and production of the vaccines within a year was only possible through the close cooperation of the international community and the manufacturers. “This has saved millions of lives worldwide,” emphasized the health minister.
Spending on vaccines “good and right”
The EU has spent billions on vaccines since the start of the pandemic, “and rightly so.” Three years ago, no one could seriously estimate the duration of the pandemic, the number of vaccines needed and the demand for vaccines, Rauch said. But now the immunity of the population is high and the demand is falling.
“Manufacturers have benefited enormously from government investment. Now it is time to adapt the contracts to the new situation,” Rauch warned. The pharmaceutical industry made billions with the vaccine. Only vaccine maker BioNTech reported a net profit of more than € 17 billion in 2021 and the first three quarters of 2022.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
