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Düsseldorf / Brussels / Berlin (dpa / lnw) - The Astrazeneca vaccine was also offered to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia via obscure sales channels in a legal gray area.
"The Ministry of Health did not pursue the highly dubious offer," reported a spokesman on Thursday at the request of the German Press Agency in Düsseldorf.
According to EU investigators, governments around the world have been offered a total of 400 million doses of vaccines that do not come directly from the manufacturers.
"We call that ghost vaccines, so any more or less obscure offers that have probably already gone to many heads of state and government," it said on Thursday from circles of the EU Commission.
The EU anti-fraud agency Olaf and the law enforcement agency Europol have started investigations.
According to the information, the topic will also be discussed at the video summit of the heads of state and government of the European Union on Thursday.
According to Olaf's estimates, 400 million doses worth up to three billion euros were offered, but it is not known exactly whether it is a real vaccine, it said.
It could also be “salt water in small bottles”.
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“Bild” reported on Thursday that a “mediator from NRW networked in many German authorities” offered numerous governments 100 million doses of the vaccine from the British-Swedish manufacturer Astrazeneca by email alone.
A spokesman said a spokesman said the State Ministry of Health did not know whether the provider who approached the state of North Rhine-Westphalia "on the gray market" was the same agent.
According to the “Bild” report, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health generally confirmed that the federal government had also received a
number of offers of “different
seriousness” from private vaccine brokers
in
recent weeks
.
Germany, which is tied to the EU procurement mechanism
, has not accepted any of these offers.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210225-99-592105 / 3
Anti-fraud agency Olaf