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The CEO of the German company BioNTech, a firm that partnered with the Pfizer laboratory to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus, estimated when we could return to “normalcy” based on the progress that his team has made.
Let’s remember that last Monday, Pfizer announced that its vaccine was 90% effective, which raised hope. In this context, Ugur Sahin He gave an interview to the British medium The Guardian where he indicated that he believed that the health crisis could end in the middle of next year.
“If the question is whether we can stop this pandemic with this vaccine, then my answer is: yes, because I believe that even protection only against symptomatic infections will have a dramatic effect,” he said, adding that a return “to normal life” could occur “in the middle of next year.”
However, Sahin warned that before this happens the situation could become very complex, because although the vaccine could begin to be administered to the population in December, the outlook “will not change drastically” and everything “will get worse before better“.
On the occasion, the director of BioNTech acknowledged that they had doubts about how the immune system would react to the vaccine. “It was possible that the virus was not really the target of the vaccine, it got into cells and continued to make people sick. Now we know that vaccines can defeat this virus, “he said.
Whereas conventional vaccines take genetic information from a virus and grow it in a human cell, the mRNA method – which is what this vaccine uses – simply requires the genetic code of the virus, which shortens the production process by almost three months.
“The vaccine prevents Covid-19 from having access to our cells. But even if the virus manages to get in, the T cells hit it on the head and kill it. We have trained the immune system very well to perfect these two defensive movements. Now we know that the virus cannot defend itself against these mechanisms ”, he explained..
Pfizer’s experience with mass market vaccines and quick action by regulatory authorities helped accelerate the development process to 10 months rather than years, Şahin said. “There was practically no waiting time. Imagine you want to go from one end of London to the other and there are tacos everywhere. You would need half a day. For our project, the streets were empty ”.
The scientist said that in about three weeks more information is expected on whether the vaccine offers different levels of protection to different age groups. Interim trials also have not yet fully established whether the vaccine works differently in people of different ethnic groups.
Şahin said he hoped those who received the vaccine, given by two injections in the arm three weeks apart, would be immune to the coronavirus for at least a year.
“So far we only have indirect clues (about the duration of immunity). Studies of Covid-19 patients have shown that those with a strong immune response still have that response after six months. I imagine that we could be safe for at least a year, “said the professional, adding that he could not rule out the need to be vaccinated annually.
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