FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The U.S. coronavirus vaccine producer Moderna is planning to construct a vaccine manufacturing facility in eastern Germany, a German newspaper reported on Thursday.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that the company, which produces its COVID-19 vaccine in Switzerland, will go into operation in two years’ time. The newspaper did not cite sources.
The details are still unclear, the newspaper said. It said talks over German government support for the venture have stalled because Berlin wants to make its backing contingent on bigger vaccine delivery volumes by Moderna, but Moderna cannot commit to that.
Germany’s economics ministry declined to comment on the topic, but a spokeswoman said there was a task force for vaccine production and that it was in contact with multiple companies.
Moderna did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Tom Sims in Frankfurt and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis)
