Along with the United States, Germany is one of the world’s top investors in COVID-19 vaccine research, according to a list compiled by the Center for Global Health at the University Institute for International Studies and Development in Geneva.

Germany invested 1.5 billion dollars

The federal republic's treasury hoped to get ahead of coronavirus by ploughing 1,5 billion dollars (around 1,28 billion euros) into vaccine research last year, a spending figure outstripped only by the United States. The US boasted a massive 2,2 billion dollar (1,88 billion euros) investment into vaccine research around the globe in 2020.

Half of global investment into research and development for new COVID-19 vaccines therefore came from the US and Germany alone. The third largest investor, with a contribution of around 500 million dollars (426 million euros), was the United Kingdom. 

The biggest recipients for investment included Pfizer / BioNTech

Some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies who launched COVID-19 vaccine programmes were recipients of the investments. These include the companies behind vaccines such as the German-American Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and the University of Oxford. 

The Center for Global Health at the University Institute for International Studies and Development in Geneva has also researched the cost of these vaccines, to compare investment and cost per dose. AstraZeneca’s vaccine dose works out the cheapest, while the Chinese vaccine from Sinopharm is the most expensive.