Berlin, December 28: Germany plans to receive 15.5 million doses of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine as soon as it is approved by the European Union's drug regulator, a health ministry spokeswoman said Monday.

"The Moderna vaccine has not been approved yet, but under an EU contract we would receive 15.5 million doses," a spokeswoman told reporters at a news briefing.

Germany began the vaccine rollout over the weekend, less than a week after the European Medicines Agency gave the conditional marketing authorization for a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. COVID-19 Vaccinations Begin in European Nations.

The EU has concluded contracts with pharma companies to secure a combined 2 billion doses of vaccines developed by AstraZeneca, Sanofi and GSK, Johnson and Johnson, CureVac, Pfizer and BioNTech, and Moderna.

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