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Biontech founder Sahin wants to run more experimental tests in light of the new Corona variant, but he assumes his vaccine will work. WHO is less alarmed by the mutation than the UK government.
The Mainz company Biontech claims its vaccine, which was approved in the EU on Monday, will also be effective against the mutated variant of the coronavirus.
“We know that our vaccine attacks the virus in many different places; therefore, we are initially confident that the immune responses caused by our vaccine could neutralize this virus,” said Biontech chief Ugur. Im sahin Extra ARD.
The virus has now mutated a bit more, Sahin told the German news agency. “Now we have to test it experimentally. It will take about two weeks. But we are confident that the mechanism of action will not be significantly affected.”
The antigen that the Mainz-based company and its US partner Pfizer use for the vaccine consists of more than 1,270 amino acids, according to Sahin. Nine of them have now mutated, so not even one percent. “Our vaccine sees all the protein and elicits multiple immune responses. This gives us so many docking points that it is difficult to escape the virus. But that does not mean that the new variant is harmless.” The Biontech vaccine based on the mRNA of the messenger molecule can, in principle, be rapidly adapted to new variants.
“Reason to be optimistic”
The president of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, also hopes that previous corona vaccines will work against the new variant of the virus. Montgomery told NDR Info that it was a mutation in the external protein components of the virus. “There should be many more points of attack for vaccination and the antibodies that then form. So I think we have reason to be optimistic,” explained the doctor.
WHO: situation “not out of control”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus discovered in Britain is currently not out of control. “Even if the virus spreads a little more efficiently, it can be stopped,” WHO director of medical emergencies Michael Ryan told a news conference. The situation “is not out of control.”
However, Ryan called for steps to be taken to contain the new mutation. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said over the weekend that the mutation that occurred in south-east England was “up to 70 percent more contagious” than the original variant of the corona virus. UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new strain of the virus was “out of control”.
First delivery on Saturday
Germany should receive the first delivery on Saturday. 151,125 doses of vaccines are expected, announced the Berlin Senate Administration, which currently chairs the conference of state health ministers. Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Twitter that a total of more than 1.3 million doses of vaccines should be delivered to federal states by the end of this year. At least another 670,000 cans would be added each week in January.
There are two vaccines per person. First, people over 80 years of age, nursing home staff and residents, and healthcare workers at very high risk of infection should be vaccinated. According to clinical studies, Biontech indicates the effectiveness of the vaccine with 95 percent.
Even more restricted travel to Britain
Meanwhile, the federal government is further restricting travel from Britain and South Africa to Germany. To this day, transport companies are largely prohibited from transporting people from there by plane, train, bus and boat, as is clear from a regulation issued by the Ministry of Health in the Federal Bulletin.
The BBC reports, citing French European Minister Clément Beaune, that French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Johnson agreed on measures to reopen the border to freight traffic from Wednesday. Therefore, the details should be announced throughout the day.
“We are talking about lettuce, vegetables, fresh fruit”
The British retail association BRC (British Retail Consortium) has warned of the consequences for consumers if freight traffic in the English Channel is not resumed within a day. “There is a potential problem right after Christmas and it is fresh produce. We are talking about things like lettuce, vegetables, fresh fruit, mainly from Europe at this time of year,” said Andrew Opie, BRC’s grocery manager. it’s the BBC.
The problem is empty trucks that get stuck on the English side of the Canal. If they don’t move again on Tuesday, fruits like raspberries or strawberries won’t arrive in time. “As long as it can be solved today, it will have minimal impact on consumers,” Opie said.
