A spokeswoman for the German Health Ministry confirmed to Reuters earlier reports of US President Donald Trump's offer to a German company, whose teams are working on developing a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
CureVac focuses on the development of a mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine to protect people worldwide. We abstain from commenting on speculations and rejects allegations about offers for acquisition of our company or our technology.
— CureVac (@CureVacAG) March 15, 2020
To our press release: https://t.co/DQGWgdcUJc
Welt Am Sonntag had reported that Trump has been trying to lure CureVac to move its research to the US and to grant its health department exclusive access to its results, in exchange for funding.
Despite a tweet by the US ambassador to Germany denying Welt Am Sonntag's statement, the German Health Ministry confirmed it.
Germany's CureVac says low-dose #coronavirus vaccine could allow for mass production - Reuters https://t.co/UchzpCmJI3 #Covid_19 #CoronavirusOubreak
— Evan Kirstel (@evankirstel) March 14, 2020
As soon as news of Trump's alleged attempt to monopolize the potential vaccine, that can put an end to the epidemic, social media commentators expressed their outrage of what they considered "another attempt to exploit a global crisis to help Americans and throw the rest of the world under the bus".
BREAKING: Trump is trying to gain EXCLUSIVE rights to a potential vaccine being developed by a German firm, CureVac. This was confirmed by a German government source, who said that Trump is trying to secure the vaccine, “but only for the United States.”https://t.co/fTpOrZz3rh
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 15, 2020
Online comments condemned such attempts calling on world leaders to seize the opportunity to help all humans regardless of nationality. They also wondered about the reasons driving Trump to ask for exclusive access, especially that CureVac announced plans for mass production if the vaccine proves to be effective.
If true, what could be the reason for Trump to seek "exclusive access" for the United States to COVID-19 vaccine? Why would he want to deprive other nations of the vaccine? The US is a member of the World Health Organization and a signatory to Biological Weapons Convention.
— Laurence (Larry) Boorstein (@LarryBoorstein) March 15, 2020
China is sending doctors and nurses to Italy to help out there while we try to steal vaccines from Germany.@EbonyApplePy
— Jeff (@notyetagm) March 15, 2020
Americans' reactions to German reports were quite mixed, as some expressed their gratitude for being the top priority of their president.
Good, that's Trump's job, protecting Americans no matter what. I have no problem with this. Trump can help non-Americans once Americans are taken care of.
— T ?????????™️™️™️ (@YangTerrence) March 15, 2020
Just yesterday trump said the USA has the smartest brightest best people in the world. Why are they trying to buy a vaccine instead of developing one them selves?
— Grumpy Canadian (@SvenHabermann3) March 15, 2020
