According to the Federal Ministry of Health, Germany has 77 million doses of corona vaccine in stock.
A spokesman for the ministry confirmed a report by the newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" on Saturday, according to which this number of cans was in stock in the federal central warehouse as of April 4th.
According to a response from the ministry to a question from the Union faction in the Bundestag, more than 10 million cans will reach their expiry date by the end of June, and 50 million in the third quarter.
The answer is also available from the German Press Agency.
According to the Federal Ministry of Health's vaccination dashboard, only a few tens of thousands of doses per day were administered recently.
Last December, there were sometimes more than a million vaccinations a day.
Shelf life has already been extended
The ministry said the shelf life for BioNTech's vaccine had already been extended from six to nine months.
Moderna has also extended the shelf life for its vaccine from seven to nine months and has been asked to submit data for a further extension.
The health policy spokesman for the Union faction, Tino Sorge (CDU), accused Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) in the “Welt am Sonntag” of a “shopping spree”: “The minister no longer knows any limits when it comes to vaccine orders.
He orders whatever is there – the actual need and the costs no longer play any role for him.” In view of the tight budget situation, the minister will have to account for “what costs the federal budget has incurred as a result of his unnecessary orders”.
As the ministry's response shows, a total of 677 million vaccine doses were ordered for Germany between 2021 and 2023, more than half of them from Biontech/Pfizer - 375 million doses.