The government of Angela Merkel accused the United States of Donald Trump this Sunday evening of having attempted to appropriate a project for a vaccine against the coronavirus developed by a German laboratory, and warned that he would do everything he could developed in Europe.
Germany "is not for sale", protested the Minister for the Economy Peter Altmaier on the public television channel ARD. And his interior counterpart Horst Seehofer confirmed the veracity of the information published the same day by the German daily Die Welt on an attempt by American President Donald Trump to get hold of the German laboratory by offering him a very large sum of money.
A "crisis committee"
"I can just say that I have heard from government officials today several times that this is correct," he said at a press conference. He announced in the aftermath that the subject would be raised Monday by the "crisis committee" of the government responsible for piloting the fight against the epidemic of coronavirus, which has so far affected in Germany nearly 5,000 people and left 12 dead.
In the center of the showdown: the German CureVac laboratory, located in Tübingen in the south-west of the country. He is one of those around the world working on a Covid-19 vaccine, receiving grants from the German government. He claims to be "a few months away" from being able to present a project for clinical validation.
A "greatly exaggerated" affair
According to the German newspaper, American President Donald Trump is trying to attract millions of dollars from German scientists working on this potential vaccine or to obtain exclusivity for his country by investing in the company. The vaccine would then be "only for the United States," a source close to the German government told the newspaper.
A US government official, interviewed by AFP on Sunday, said the case was "greatly exaggerated." Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Washington had spoken to more than 25 pharmaceutical companies and assured that "any solution that comes up will be shared with the rest of the world."
Surprise departure of the CEO
The reality is, however, that the CEO of the German company was personally invited by the President on March 3 to the White House to discuss "a rapid development of a vaccine against the coronavirus," according to a statement from this laboratory.
Curiously, the company CureVac announced a week later the surprise departure of this CEO, without giving a reason. In the meantime, resistance has obviously been organized on the German side, and in particular within the company concerned, in the face of American inclinations.
The German Minister for the Economy thus welcomed the "formidable decision" of CureVac to refuse American advances. A company official, Franz-Werner Haas, for his part confirmed Washington's interest but said that there had been no "offer to purchase".
"There are limits to capitalism"
The chairman of the German Liberal Party (FDP), Christian Lindner, attacked him directly at Donald Trump. "In an election period all means are obviously good for the American president", anxious to secure the glory of the first vaccine, he said. "The fight against the coronavirus is a task that concerns all of humanity, there is no room for selfishness," he added.
"We must at all costs prevent the exclusive sale of a possible vaccine in the United States, there are limits to capitalism", echoed him an official of the Social Democratic Party, member of the German government coalition, Karl Lauterbach .
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