The creator of the first COVID vaccine revealed when the pandemic will be controlled – Diseases

The creator of the world’s first approved coronavirus vaccine believes the pandemic will be brought under control when 60 percent of the world’s population is vaccinated.

Professor Ugur Shahin, CEO of the German company Biontech, stood in front of bTV.

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He is the scientist that everyone hopes to be cured. He is the emigrant who made the dream of his fellow guest workers in Germany come true. He was born in Turkey, but has lived with his family in Germany since he was 4 years old. Founder of the medical research company Biontech.

Before the breakthrough with the COVID-19 vaccine, a world leader in cancer drug detection and one of the most successful scientific laboratories in the world. Professor Ugur Sahin is also among the richest people in Germany and the world with a fortune in the billions earned by science.

The world, enclosed within the four walls of the laboratory, finds him with his wife, Ozlem Tureci. The two of them spend their wedding day at work and, after the ceremony, they return to the place where they are happiest: the laboratory.

Professor Sahin, the first people, outside of the volunteers, have already been injected with your vaccine. Can you tell us how it affected them, what are the first data?
To date, about 1 million people have been immunized outside of clinical trials. The feedback we have is that the side effects significantly cover the results of the preliminary global study with 44,000 volunteers. Also, we rarely see severe allergic or allergic reactions in a certain number of vaccinated people, but general practice shows that vaccination can provoke such reactions. Therefore, it is important that those vaccinated remain under observation for at least 30 minutes after vaccination before returning home.

Could you explain how your vaccine works?

Our vaccine is based on pregenomic RNA. This is a natural principle of information transmission. Pregenomic RNA carries information about how proteins are formed. Our vaccine imitates this principle, so we incorporate part of the virus, and the patient who is vaccinated produces the encoded protein, creating an immune response against the virus that remains in the memory of the genes. Therefore, when a person comes into contact with the virus for the first time, their immune system is already prepared and can deactivate the virus and prevent further illness.

The vaccine has been tested in more than 43,000 volunteers and, according to official data, 4.6 percent of them have side effects such as fever, fatigue, muscle pain. However, are there side effects that endanger the health of those vaccinated?

The main side effects are actually the side effects that are generally seen with vaccines. In most cases, they occur as a desired result of the vaccine and mean that the immune system has been activated. There is pain at the injection site, as well as fever or tiredness, exhaustion, or a severe headache. All these symptoms are present for two or three days and then there is a rapid improvement, in addition, so far we have not identified significant side effects. A small proportion of volunteers develop allergic reactions, this is also typical of any vaccine, but I must say that so far we have data from only a few months. It is also important for us to monitor the process for the next two years, and when new unexpected side effects are identified, we will of course report immediately.

Have you already vaccinated?

I have not been vaccinated yet, but I would like to. It is really important for us to be able to vaccinate our workers in the first place. And within the next year to produce one billion and 300 million doses of the vaccine. That is why it is important to work without interruption and, of course, to prevent our workers from becoming infected with COVID-19.

How do vaccine risk groups react?

There are several risk groups, mainly the elderly, people who suffer from additional diseases: asthma, heart problems, high blood pressure. Or people who have had cancer or who currently have cancer that does not cure. The adverse reactions observed in these groups did not differ in any way from those generally observed in the vaccinated population. Again, there really are no specific side effects in these risk groups.

You are currently working on the second generation of your vaccine, logistics is a big challenge, would it be a little easier with the second generation?

We are working on a new formula for the vaccine, which can be transported at minus 20 degrees. We are also working on a vaccine that can withstand low temperatures for more than five days, for example two weeks, four weeks and even three months.

Do you think your success with the vaccine will usher in the end of the pandemic?

It is important to know that vaccines can reduce the symptoms of infections. I think this knowledge is absolutely important and it means that not only does our vaccine work, but it is highly likely that other vaccines can work in the same way. We hope that other vaccines will be allowed in the first half of 2021 and together we will be able to deliver sufficient doses for a smooth and gradual vaccination of the population of at least 60 percent, ideally 70 or 80 percent. With this we will have the opportunity to be normal or almost normal next winter at the end of summer next year.

The world in 2021: will it be a safer place?

In the first months of 2021, we really need to do everything possible to get through the winter safely. We know that viral infections generally increase in the winter and we still have at least 5 difficult months ahead of us. If we manage to reduce the number of infected through anti-epidemic measures and calmly enter the spring, when the number of infected will decrease and we are significantly more outside and less inside, then I think we really have a great opportunity at the end of summer 2021 to gain a significant part of normality. The virus will not go away, which means that it is also important to witness small to medium waves in the future, even when we are 60-70 percent immunized. This is the new norm, but I am convinced that if we are successful with vaccination, it will not have to follow a lockdown.