German health authorities say they expect one or two COVID-19 vaccines may be ready by early 2021.
Germany's Center for Disease Prevention said at-risk groups may need to be given priority if the country isn't able to produce enough vaccines for Germany's more than 83 million people.
The European Commission announced Thursday that it has signed a contract with pharmaceutical firm Astra Zeneca to provide a potential vaccine to all EU countries, including Germany.
"For the future provision of vaccines against COVID-19 through this contract with AstraZeneca, member states will be able to purchase 300 million doses of the vaccine with an option for a further 100 million doses. They will be distributed on a population-based pro-rata basis."
Germany, with about 1/4th of the population of the U.S., has had 240,000 coronavirus cases and 9,000 deaths compared to 5.9 million and 181,000 in the U.S.
