01:18Germany: Merkel urges citizens not to criticise speed of vaccine roll-out
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged citizens not to criticise the speed of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in Germany, speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Thursday.
Merkel said, “it was clear that at the beginning there would not be as many vaccines as there would be after a couple of months."
"I understand the impatience, but there is especially, absolutely no reason to criticise BioNTech," she stressed.
Her remarks come after Pfizer/BioNTech temporarily slowed down the speed of their vaccine deliveries in order to re-tool facilities in Belgium to ensure a beefed up production capacity. The development has led to smaller than expected deliveries of the vaccine to European countries including Germany.
Merkel also turned her attention to the arrest of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was detained upon arrival in Moscow on Sunday and later jailed for 30 days by a court near Moscow for breaching the terms of his suspended prison sentence.
"Of course I demand the immediate release of Mr Navalny, and that is what the entire Federal Government is doing. We believe that this would be absolutely right,” Merkel said.
Russian officials and politicians have said Navalny's detention is a legal issue internal to the Russian Federation.
01:18NO RESALE
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged citizens not to criticise the speed of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in Germany, speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Thursday.
Merkel said, “it was clear that at the beginning there would not be as many vaccines as there would be after a couple of months."
"I understand the impatience, but there is especially, absolutely no reason to criticise BioNTech," she stressed.
Her remarks come after Pfizer/BioNTech temporarily slowed down the speed of their vaccine deliveries in order to re-tool facilities in Belgium to ensure a beefed up production capacity. The development has led to smaller than expected deliveries of the vaccine to European countries including Germany.
Merkel also turned her attention to the arrest of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was detained upon arrival in Moscow on Sunday and later jailed for 30 days by a court near Moscow for breaching the terms of his suspended prison sentence.
"Of course I demand the immediate release of Mr Navalny, and that is what the entire Federal Government is doing. We believe that this would be absolutely right,” Merkel said.
Russian officials and politicians have said Navalny's detention is a legal issue internal to the Russian Federation.