BERLIN: The European Union’s problems with getting deliveries of coronavirus vaccines have underscored the need for the bloc to redouble its efforts to produce its own doses, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.
Speaking to Parliament ahead of an EU summit, Merkel acknowledged that the vaccination rollout in Germany has not gone as quickly as hoped.
She said it was more about how many had been delivered hence rejecting criticism that not enough shots had been ordered.
“We can see clearly that British facilities are producing for Great Britain. The United States isn’t exporting, and therefore we are dependent upon what can be produced in Europe,” Merkel said.
At the summit, Germany’s Chancellor said European leaders planned to talk about how the bloc can ensure a steadier vaccine supply for the future.
She has previously urged the EU to be “very careful” with vaccine export bans. She said she supports efforts by the bloc’s executive Commission to ensure that vaccine contracts are fulfilled, citing the supply problems the EU has had with the AstraZeneca shot.
She told Parliament that in addition to ensuring its own supply, the EU must work with other vaccine-producing countries to ensure there’s enough vaccines available for everyone around the world who needs it.
“If we do not succeed with that, we will be confronted again and again with mutations, which raise the possible risk that the vaccines are no longer effective,” she said.
Germany has registered more than 75,000 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. The country’s disease control center reported 22,657 new confirmed daily cases Thursday, up from 17,504 new daily cases a week ago.
“We are in the third wave, and again seeing exponential growth,” Merkel cautioned.
Merkel and state governors earlier this week agreed on a new framework to try and slow the spread of the virus, though she backed down from a planned 5-day shutdown over Easter.
Restaurants, bars and many leisure facilities remain closed. A plan drawn up earlier this month to allow limited reopenings — of shops, for example — features an “emergency brake” under which regions are supposed to re-impose restrictions when the number of weekly infections exceeds 100 per 100,000 residents on three consecutive days.
Germany is currently recording 113.3 weekly new cases per 100,000 residents nationwide, with wide regional variations.
Merkel urged Germans to get vaccinated as soon as they can and to use the coronavirus tests being provided as a “bridge” to help slow the spread of the virus until enough people have been vaccinated.
“The more that we test, the less we must restrict,” she said.
She said with the vaccines and the increased tests, a “light at the end of the tunnel is visible” and urged Germans to be as positive as possible.
Germany’s Merkel: EU needs to increase vaccine production
https://arab.news/ctchn
Germany’s Merkel: EU needs to increase vaccine production
Pakistan killed over 80 militants in strikes on TTP camps in Afghanistan — official
- Saturday’s airstrikes followed a series of attacks inside Pakistan amid a surge in militancy
- The Afghan Taliban authorities accuse Pakistani forces of killing civilians in the airstrikes
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan destroyed seven Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) camps and killed over 80 militants, a Pakistani security official said on Sunday, with the Afghan Taliban accusing Pakistani forces of killing civilians in the assault.
Saturday’s airstrikes followed a series of attacks inside Pakistan amid a surge in militancy. Authorities say the attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, were carried out by the TTP and allied groups that Islamabad alleges are operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Kabul denies this.
According to Pakistan’s information ministry, recent incidents included a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, separate attacks in Bajaur and Bannu, and another recent incident in Bannu during the holy month of Ramadan, which started earlier this week. The government said it had “conclusive evidence” linking the attacks to militants directed by leadership based in Afghanistan.
“Last night, Pakistan’s intelligence-based air strikes destroyed seven centers of Fitna Al-Khawarij TTP in three provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost, in which more than eighty Khawarij (TTP militants) have been confirmed killed, while more are expected,” a Pakistani security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Arab News.
An earlier statement from Pakistan’s information ministry said the targets included a camp of a Daesh regional affiliate, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which claimed a suicide bombing at an Islamabad Shiite mosque that killed 32 people this month.
In an X post, Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces had violated Afghan territory.
“Pakistani special military circles have once again trespassed into Afghan territory,” Mujahid said. “Last night, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of people, including women and children.”
The Afghan Taliban’s claims of civilian casualties could not be independently verified. Pakistan did not immediately comment on the allegation that civilians had been killed in the strikes.
In a post on X, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires to Afghanistan Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani and lodged protest through a formal démarche in response to the Pakistani military strikes.
“IEA-MoFA (The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs) vehemently condemns the violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and the targeting of civilians, describing it as a flagrant breach of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity & a provocative action,” it said in a statement.
“The Pakistani side was also categorically informed that safeguarding Afghanistan’s territorial integrity is the religious responsibility of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; henceforth, the responsibility for any adverse consequences of such actions will rest with the opposing side.”
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have escalated since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021. Pakistan says cross-border militant attacks have increased since then and has accused the Taliban of failing to honor commitments under the 2020 Doha Agreement to prevent Afghan soil from being used for attacks against other countries. The Taliban deny allowing such activity and have previously rejected similar accusations.
Saturday’s exchange of accusations marks one of the most direct confrontations between the two neighbors in recent months and risks further straining already fragile ties along the volatile border.
