Germany to vaccinate all citizens by end of summer - Merkel

Coronavirus vaccines show a way out of the pandemic as they can be adapted for new variants of the virus and Germany should be able to vaccinate all citizens by the end of summer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.

The German government will do everything to protect vaccine supply chains even if it cannot control production, Merkel told a news conference, adding that the country should have enough surplus vaccine in the third quarter to give some of it away. "By the end of summer, we will have offered a vaccine to every German," the conservative chancellor said.

Merkel added that while new variants of the coronavirus are a major reason for concern, the newly developed vaccines can be relatively quickly adapted to protect people from mutations.