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US President Donald Trump is offering huge sums of money to German scientists working on a Coronavirus vaccine. He wants to have exclusive rights to their work, the Welt am Sonntag reports.
A German government source told the paper that Trump is doing everything in his power to provide the vaccine "only for the US".
But a German Ministry of Health spokesman told Die Welt that the German government thinks otherwise. "The German government is very interested in developing vaccines and treatments against the new Coronavirus in Germany and Europe." Even the German government is offering to the company many financial advantages.
The CureVac firm, located in the south of Germany, is researching several possible vaccines, and two prototypes will be selected for testing. CureVac co-founder and chief of production Florian von der Mülbe told Reuters the company hopes to have an experimental vaccine in June or July. Approval will then be obtained to test it on humans.
Two weeks ago, then-CureVac board chief Daniel Menichella met at the White House with Trump and his staff. Nine days after the meeting, March 11, the firm CureTec removed Menichella from his post and replaced him with company founder Ingmar Hoerr.