German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that vaccines against coronavirus may be needed “for many years”.

She said this after a joint meeting with heads of state governments, representatives of the European Commission and pharmaceutical companies.

“It’s like the flu vaccine, where you are re-vaccinated each time against a new mutation of the virus,” Merkel said in Berlin.

Despite all the problems, she said, authorities expect to keep an earlier promise that everyone in Germany would be vaccinated by the end of the summer.

“The statement that we will be able to offer every citizen vaccinations by the end of the third quarter can be confirmed,” the chancellor said.

According to Merkel, this promise can be fulfilled even in this negative scenario, when two pharmaceutical manufacturers, Johnson & Johnson and Curevac, contrary to expectations, do not receive approval for the vaccines they have developed.