We'll have 10 million vaccinated by end-March, Merkel says

Germany will have vaccinated 10 million people against the new coronavirus by the end of the first quarter, Chancellor Angela Merkel told ARD television on Tuesday in a defence of her government's handling of the vaccine roll-out.

Germany will have vaccinated 10 million people against the new coronavirus by the end of the first quarter, Chancellor Angela Merkel told ARD television on Tuesday in a defence of her government's handling of the vaccine roll-out. Berlin and the European Union have been under fire over their handling of vaccine deployment, with critics pointing to the faster pace in Britain, Israel and the United States as evidence of an EU failure.

Merkel added that the EU had been right not to go for the emergency approval that had allowed Britain to release the first vaccine for public use before anyone else, since it was crucial to maintain people's confidence in vaccines. "You could either say that we will already be able to vaccinate 10 million people using both vaccines in the first quarter, or others will say 'only' (10 million); but either way it will go up from there," she said.