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Sunday, November 15, 2020
Is it normal in late 2021?
Biontech founder predicts “harsh winter”
The vaccine developed by Biontech is one of the beacons of hope in the fight against the corona pandemic, but the vaccine has yet to have any effect next winter. Co-founder Sahin doesn’t expect to return to normal until the end of 2021.
The co-founder of vaccine developer Biontech, Ugur Sahin, hopes to return to normal by winter 2021. But it is “absolutely essential” to achieve a high vaccination rate against the corona virus before autumn, he told the British television station BBC . But he is optimistic that this can be successful.
The vaccine developed by Biontech and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is one of the hopes in the fight against the pandemic. The head of the company, Sahin, announced that the developed vaccine would already be available at the end of this year or early 2021, “if all goes well,” he added. However, he spoke of a “harsh winter” and noted that vaccines developed soon would not have a major impact in the current cold season. Biontech’s goal, however, is to deliver more than 300 million cans by April: “That could have an effect,” Sahin said.
Mainz-based company Biontech and its US partner Pfizer made headlines last week with the announcement that the current clinical trial had found its candidate vaccine more than 90 percent effective. Biontech was founded in 2008 by Sahin, his wife Özlem Türeci, and Austrian cancer researcher Christoph Huber.
Two years ago, the company signed a collaboration agreement with Pfizer, which was expanded to include a search for vaccines in March this year in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Biontech received a grant from the German government worth 375 million euros for the research.
However, shortly after the announcement, according to a survey, the willingness to vaccinate has hardly changed in Germany. As in August, 40 percent of respondents would get vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as possible, as a Forsa survey for RTL and ntv broadcasters showed. 50 percent of those surveyed would likely wait and see, an increase of two percentage points from August. Only nine percent do not want to be vaccinated at all. In August, eleven percent were against vaccination. 1006 people were interviewed for the survey.
