Founder of Biontech: “Pragmatism is needed when distributing the vaccine”

DThe founders of the German vaccine manufacturer Biontech and inventors of the first coronavirus vaccine, Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, are in favor of more pragmatism in the vaccination campaign. “As innovators and problem solvers, we can only give advice,” Türeci said Thursday night in Berlin at the presentation of the Axel Springer Awards to the research couple. He stressed that he did not want to specifically address the situation in Germany when Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner asked about the slow progress of vaccines in this country. In general: “Pragmatism is – and we see it in several countries – definitely a mechanism that we should all live in this pandemic,” Türeci said. “We were pragmatic in the development of our vaccine and we also need this pragmatism in the distribution of the vaccine.”

Türeci expressed his understanding that the fight against the pandemic in Europe is not going well. “We must bear in mind that this is a health crisis of unprecedented size and speed,” he said. “It is the first time that all countries and institutions – also in terms of adjusting their processes, their systems, their decision-making structures to this unprecedented situation.” You can customize than others.

Şahin emphasized that the EU is now one of the regions in the world that has ordered the most vaccines (around 600 million doses) from Biontech. “We will be able to deliver 260 million cans to the EU by the middle of the year,” he said. In January, the head of Biontech expressed his astonishment in an interview with the “Spiegel” about the vacillating order of vaccines from the EU. “Apparently, the impression prevailed: we will have enough, not everything will be so bad and we have it under control,” said Şahin at the time. “That surprised me.” Meanwhile, the EU Commission has placed additional orders.

Is self-vaccination against coronavirus coming?

Şahin also considers unconventional steps such as self-vaccination to be conceivable in the long term. “People take insulin shots every day,” he said. In principle, this could also be used for corona vaccination. To do this, you need to better understand vaccines and their side effects. “At the end of the day, we need to investigate the number of potentially serious allergies,” said Şahin. “We have to make sure that precautions are taken to react if something happens.” But that is only possible if there is enough data on vaccines. “We have to analyze the pros and cons,” he said.

The two researchers believe that it is conceivable that regular vaccines against coronavirus and its mutants will be necessary in the future. Biontech is preparing for a scenario in which humanity will have to live with the virus in the long term, Türeci said.

“We are preparing for what is known as impulse,” said the researcher. Booster is the term used to refer to booster shots, which ensure that the body remains immune to the virus in the long term. “We have to wait for data on how long the immunity of our vaccine will last,” Türeci said. “This is how we find out how often we need a boost, which could be once or twice a year, we’ll see.”

The vaccine could adapt quickly to mutations

The new mRNA technology, on which the Biontech vaccine is based and that Türeci and Şahin helped develop, allows rapid adaptation to new variants of the virus. It is very possible that mutations will occur against which the current version of the Biontech vaccine will no longer work, but the company is also preparing for this. “We control all the variants that are produced: the Brazilian, the British, the South African,” said Türeci. “So far we have very promising data that our vaccine covers these variants.”

If a new form of virus emerges, in which the vaccine no longer works, the mRNA platform can adapt very quickly. “This is something that we are already discussing with regulators,” says the researcher. If such an adjustment is necessary, the question arises as to whether the new vaccine has to go through the long and complex testing procedure all over again from the beginning.

Originally, Türeci and Şahin developed the technology to be able to treat cancer. Döpfner said that in the future Biontech could become a “biotech platform” analogous to technology platforms such as Google, Amazon or Facebook, which could produce much more than a simple coronavirus vaccine. “The purpose of the Axel Springer Award is to promote courage and entrepreneurship, creativity, but also innovation and initiatives that improve our society,” said Döpfner. “So it was very clear that there could be no better choice as a winner for 2021 than the two founders of Biontech.” After all, his invention is currently saving millions of lives around the world.

“He remained humble despite his success”

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz also praised the founding couple’s scientific achievement in his eulogy. “What makes Biontech so special is a committed team with world-leading technical knowledge and two founders who have put their hearts into this project and who have remained modest despite its success,” said Kurz. “In a world full of noise and speculation, that attitude is refreshing.” The result is a “world change” and very impressive. As a surprise guest at the award ceremony in Berlin, ETH Zurich professor of immunology and friend of the founding couple, Hans Hengartner, praised the importance of the scientific breakthrough made by Türeci and Şahin.

The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and head of the CDU, Armin Laschet, also praised the two founders. “I am particularly proud to congratulate a child in our state, Mr. Şahin,” Laschet said. He remembered the parents of the founders of Biontech, who originally came to Germany as guest workers and should actually have returned to their Turkish homeland. “We were very lucky that that didn’t happen,” Laschet said. “This is my message to the right-wing populists: the heroes of the pandemic are the same people who discriminate against you in everyday life.” In addition to the virus, we must also combat extremism and hatred.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recalled that Türeci had said that one of the reasons for her success at Biontech was that as many women as men worked there. The two founders’ company also exemplified how theoretical research and development can be turned into a finished product. This ability is still too often lacking in Europe. “You are an inspiring example of how this can be accomplished,” says von der Leyen. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged the founders of Biontech to “continue to use their talent and knowledge for the benefit of humanity.” “We were attacked by a virus and it was his genius that allowed us to defeat him,” he said in a video message. Israel is one of the countries whose vaccination campaign with the Biontech vaccine is already more advanced.

Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci are the sixth winners of the Axel Springer Award. In the past, the award went to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon inventor Jeff Bezos, Tesla boss Elon Musk, and American economist Shoshana Zuboff. The award is awarded once a year.