“We do not cover demand alone”

Published on: 01/01/2021 1:43 PM

BioNTech raises the alarm about the availability of a vaccine against covid. Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of the company that created the drug with Pfizer, hopes to have a plan by the end of January to increase production. In an interview with ‘Der Spiegel’ he points out that at this moment the current situation of vaccine availability “is not optimistic, because other approved vaccines are lacking and we have to fill the gaps with our vaccine. “” We are trying to have new partners to produce for us – explains Sahin – but it is not that there are specialized factories that are not used all over the world that can produce vaccines of the required quality one day for another. ”“ By the end of January, ”he continued,“ we will have a clearer vision of whether we can produce more and how much ”.

The BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine received approval from the European Commission shortly before Christmas, which kicked off the vaccination campaign in all EU countries. The Commission has also ordered vaccines from other manufacturers, which have not yet obtained final approval. “There was the idea that many other companies would come with the vaccines, apparently I had the impression that we were producing enough, that it would be under control,” Sahin said again, who did not hide his surprise. “.

Regarding the possibility of producing the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in other plants, the scientist underscored the complexity of the mRNa technology on which the vaccine is based: “You cannot just change, produce vaccines instead of aspirin or syrup for cough, this The process requires years of experience and adequate structural and technological equipment ”.