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The SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach has warned against too high expectations when it comes to the release of patent protection for vaccines.
Although he was pleased about the announcement by US President Joe Biden, he told the "Saarbrücker Zeitung".
"I don't think such a step would make any big difference in the production of the vaccines, which is very complex," he added.
The companies are already involved in projects to supply poorer countries.
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday signaled support for the suspension of vaccine patents that many countries have long been demanding. The US is behind the protection of intellectual property, but the pandemic is a global crisis that requires extraordinary steps, Tai said. The goal is "to get as many safe and effective vaccinations as quickly as possible to as many people as possible".
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was open to a debate about the US initiative.
"The European Union is ready to discuss any proposal that addresses this crisis effectively and pragmatically," said von der Leyen on Thursday.
We have to see how the US proposal can serve this goal.
"In the short term, however, we are calling on all vaccine-producing countries to allow exports and avoid anything that could disrupt supply chains."
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In her speech for a conference in Italy, which was broadcast online, von der Leyen emphasized: "To be clear, Europe is the only democratic region in the world that allows exports on a large scale." So far, more than 200 million doses of corona vaccine are in delivered to the rest of the world.
That is almost as much as has been administered here in the EU.
The EU is the pharmacy in the world.
In Geneva, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been arguing about the issue for weeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron was positive about the US demand.
He said he was "absolutely in favor of the intellectual property repeal".
Vaccines should become a “global public good”.
The first priority is to “donate cans” to developing countries and to develop vaccines “in partnership with poorer countries”.
Macron will take part in the EU summit in Porto at the weekend, where the topic will be discussed.
Most recently, the President said he was against an immediate revocation of patent protection.
Now, when he visited a new vaccination center in Paris, he emphasized that there was a "bottleneck that makes access to vaccines difficult".
The “key” to solving the problem is to “make technology and know-how available so that there are platforms that produce mRNA vaccines in Africa”.
These include the vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer or Moderna.
"It's time to change direction"
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The Greens chairman Robert Habeck called on the federal government to work internationally for a suspension of patents.
"Germany and the EU should join the USA and lobby the World Trade Organization for an exemption," Habeck told "Spiegel".
“Patents make sense, but if patent protection means that the pandemic cannot be combated efficiently, then that is absurd.
It is time to change direction. "
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) were open to loosening patent protection.
“We expressly share the goal of the US President.
Supplying the whole world with vaccines is the only sustainable way out of this pandemic, ”said Spahn.
Maas said: "This is a discussion that we are open to."
In order to be able to supply more people with vaccines, the main focus at the moment is to expand production and improve supply chains, Maas added.
In this context, he referred to the Covax initiative for the worldwide distribution of corona vaccines, in which Germany is involved as the second largest donor.
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Germany will also take part in the discussion about the suspension of patents in this "special situation", added Maas. "If that's a way that can help more people get vaccines faster, then that's a question we need to ask," said Maas. Spahn also emphasized: "We are only safe when everyone in the world is safe." For this, however, the further expansion of production facilities for corona vaccines is crucial.
The health policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Karin Maag (CDU), advised against lifting patent protection for vaccines. "I do not think that discussions for a revocation of patent protection for vaccines, as the EU is now striving for, are not expedient," said Maag to the "Handelsblatt". The production of the vaccines is highly complex. It makes "no sense if these are manufactured by any company".