Trump allegedly tries to buy Coronavirus vaccine from German Company

This issue began after Trump reportedly offered large amounts of money to a German medical company. 

On Monday, the John Hopkins University Tracker reported that there are more than 86,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus worldwide.In China, cases have stood still at 80,860 confirmed infections. This pattern remains the same for the death toll. Outside of China, the worldwide death toll has surpassed 3,241. In China, the death toll has stood still at 3,208. The world has gone into a panic. Cities have been put on pause. Populations hibernate under lockdown. Lives have been flipped upside down, and now, world powers are turning against one another.

United States President Donald Trump seems to be at the root of the problem. This issue began after Trump reportedly offered large amounts of money to a German medical company. This money was supposedly meant to ensure exclusive rights of a developing COVID-19 vaccine to the United States. Following the report, German ministers reacted angrily. Economy minister Peter Altmaier stated, “Germany is not for sale.”

In Trump’s alleged negotiation, the United States president offered Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac $1 billion to create and secure a vaccine that would only be available for the United States. Trump’s reported act directly contradicts the financial incentives of the German government that urged CureVac to keep the vaccine in the country.

German officials reacted differently to the offer. While all were angry, they were angry for different reasons. Foreign minister Heiko Maas and Erwin Rüddel of the German parliament’s health committee both seemed to agree that German advancements in finding a cure were not meant for exclusive use. Rather, all research of and triumphs over this disease would be shared across a global network, where all countries will be able to access a cure.

German health minister Jens Spahn made this sentiment clear, stating that Trump’s possible takeover of CureVac was “off the table” and that CureVac was developing a vaccine “for the whole world, not for individual countries.”

Other German political leaders, like Christian Linder, believe that Trump’s bribe is all a part of electioneering and that “Trump will use any means available in an election campaign.”

However, as the drama flairs, the reported incident has not been confirmed. When interior minister Horst Seehofer was asked the confirm Trump’s alleged deal on Sunday, Seehofer admitted that the alleged incident was all hear-say.

A United States official confirmed that the incident was “wildly overplayed.” This same official explained that the US government is in negotiations with more than 25 companies, who claim that they can assist in finding the cure; and that the majority of these companies already received United States funding, before the spread of the virus. Once a cure is found, the US does not hold any plans to monopolize the solution. Rather, it will be shared with the world. 

This sentiment of a worldly network is not only shared between Germany and the United States, but it is also a shared belief amongst pharmaceutical companies. On Sunday, CureVac confirmed that the potential vaccine would not be sold to any single state. While Dietmar Hopp, head of principle investor dievini Hopp BioTech holding, stated: “If we are successful in developing an effective vaccine, then it should help and protect people across the world.”

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