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Dr. Ugur Shahin is a co-founder of the German company BioNTech. In partnership with Pfizer, BioNTech has developed the first coronavirus vaccine approved for use in Europe.
DV: Dr. Shahin, what does the approval of the vaccine mean to deal with the pandemic?
This is a very important step, it is the first vaccine approved in Europe, which means that we can now start immunizing the European population. We also receive approval in Switzerland. We started with vaccines and we hope that they benefit vaccinated people. We hope, for example, to facilitate the hospitalization of the elderly in the coming months. We also hope that once other manufacturers’ products are approved we will be able to produce a sufficient number of vaccine doses to achieve an immunization level between 60 and 70 percent. This will help us control the pandemic before the winter of 2021-2022.
SG: A new, faster spread of the virus has emerged, the result of a mutation. Do you know if your vaccine is effective against it?
We don’t know because we haven’t tried it. During the next two weeks, we will accumulate a particle of this virus and we will be able to evaluate if the immune response against our vaccines is capable of neutralizing it. From a scientific point of view, the probability of this happening is high because, although this variant is the result of several mutations, only 1 percent of the relevant protein is altered in the mutated variant. This means that 99 percent are identical and we know that the immune response that our vaccine elicits attacks the protein from several sides. So the probability that the vaccine will be effective is high. But, like I said, we will get the results in two weeks and we will be more confident.
DV: If it turns out that you need to develop a new vaccine against the mutated virus, how long will it take?
Technically, we can produce a new vaccine in about six weeks. But development is likely to take longer because we will need to show that the new vaccine against the mutated virus elicits an immune response. And we have to discuss with the authorities whether they would approve such a change in the vaccine. This is a scientific and medical discussion. But I’m sure that if a change is necessary, the technology we use, RNA information technology, will provide it.
SG: The extremely low temperature at which your vaccine should be stored has been the subject of serious discussion. Do you expect complications to occur when the vaccine is shipped to the European Union?
No way. These extremely low temperatures are nothing new. Dry ice transport has been known for more than 50 years. This is not modern technology. This is a box of dry ice. There are many suppliers of dry ice, which makes it easy for us to complete the task.
The boxes are transported to the sites and then the medical staff can remove the vaccines from the boxes and store them in the refrigerator. Vaccines will be stable for five days and we know that there is great interest in initiating vaccination. So this is not a real challenge.
SG: Industrialized countries have acquired the vaccine, but the poorest countries do not have access to it. Isn’t that unfair?
No, I don’t think that’s true. In recent weeks, the vaccine has been approved in more than 40 countries, including economically developing countries like Mexico or South America. We really strive to make our vaccines available around the world. And we work with authorities around the world to make sure they can access our vaccines.
DV: Do you consider yourself a superhero?
We are scientists. And the science we do is important. But we were not alone in developing this science. I think the entire scientific community is a superhero, and we really should see this not as an event, but as an investment in research by so many different scientists who have contributed to all of this.
DV: You yourself have not yet been vaccinated. Why?
We are not legally authorized to vaccinate. Of course, we have it in mind. It is more important to us to vaccinate our colleagues and partners, so our goal is to produce more than 1.3 billion doses by 2021. And this can only be achieved if we continue to work without interruption, 24 hours a day. , 7 days a week. And we must ensure that we can protect our colleagues and members of our team from COVID-19 infection, because that would mean disruptions and delays in the production of vaccine doses. Therefore, we plan to produce a separate batch of the EU quota to deliver to our partners and team members.
SG: Why are you not allowed to get vaccinated?
You know there are priority groups. The vaccine is not allowed outside of this priority list. It is also important that we were not even allowed to participate in clinical trials, because by law it is not possible to involve people from the company in such trials, which is correct. But now we face the challenge of keeping the business running. I believe that we will find a legal and fair solution.
Author: Stephen Beardsdley
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