Due to the pandemic spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the German government ordered 20,000 respirators in 2020 for people severely affected by Covid 19 disease. However, the respirators were not needed in such large numbers and some orders were canceled. The FDP parliamentary group learned this in an answer to a question from the federal government. According to the report, only 13,738 respiratory protection devices worth 241 million euros were delivered, of which 4,838 were distributed among the federal states as needed. 1,435 devices were deliveries and donations to other federal states and international organizations.
The remaining ventilators are expected to be redistributed. Some will likely go to the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in the near future, and some could be used for emergency purposes and stored. The National Health Protection Reserve would be one such example.
The European Commission does not want to prepare for another crisis event and is therefore not planning any further procurement and stockpiling measures, including for the so-called EU civil protection mechanism RescEU, the German government added.
Source: www.aerzteblatt.de