* Health minister: vaccine shortages to last at least 10
weeks
* Interior ministry preparing entry ban for risk countries
* 7-day incidence falls below 100 cases/100,000 people
(Adds details on incidence, entry ban)
BERLIN, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Germany faces a shortage of
coronavirus shots well into April, its health minister said on
Thursday, and called for a summit with the country's state
leaders to discuss vaccinations as the government faced fresh
criticism over the pace of the roll-out.
"We will still have at least 10 tough weeks with a shortage
of vaccine," Jens Spahn said in a Tweet, adding the meeting
should focus on how Europe gets its fair share of shots and what
can be done to support the process.
A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said she backed the
proposal and planning for the summit was already underway.
On Thursday, Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper described
the problem of procuring enough vaccines as a "scandal," while a
poll for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said approval for
the government's coronavirus policy had fallen to 49%, its
lowest level since the pandemic began.
Spahn said he wanted to invite pharmaceutical companies and
vaccine manufacturers to a meeting to discuss the way forward,
adding he recognised vaccine production was complex and
production could not be built up in a few weeks.
On Tuesday, Spahn supported European Union proposals to set
up a register of vaccine exports, as tensions grow with
AstraZeneca and Pfizer over sudden supply cuts
just a month after the EU started vaccinating citizens.
Germany reported 17,553 new coronavirus cases on Thursday,
bringing the total to 2,178,828, and another 941 deaths. The
seven-day incidence rate fell under 100 cases per 100,000 for
the first time since the end of October. The government wants it
to drop below 50.
Spahn has said that if cases continue to fall, schools and
nurseries should be the first to reopen after a lockdown
currently due to last until Feb. 14.
Germany is also preparing entry restrictions for travellers
from Britain, Brazil and South Africa, the interior ministry
said, and hopes to decide by Friday as concerns mount about more
contagious variants.
"We have to get ahead of the situation," Interior Minister
Horst Seehofer said on Twitter.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson, Caroline Copley and Andreas
Rinke; Editing by Thomas Seythal, Alex Richardson and Giles
Elgood)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
