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LONDON – One of the scientists behind the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer said on Sunday he was confident it could cut the transmission of the virus in half, resulting in a “dramatic” reduction in the spread of the virus. .
Professor Ugur Sahin, CEO of Germany’s BioNTech, said it was “absolutely essential” to have a high vaccination rate before next fall to ensure a return to normal life next winter.
“If everything continues to go well, we will start delivering the vaccine at the end of this year, starting next,” Sahin said. “Our goal is to deliver more than 300 million doses of vaccines through April next year, which could allow us to begin to have an impact.”
“I’m very confident that human-to-human transmission will be reduced with such an effective vaccine, maybe not 90 percent, but 50 percent,” he said.
Pfizer and BioNTech said last week that interim results showed the vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing people from getting sick from Covid-19, although they don’t have enough information on safety and build quality yet.
“What is absolutely essential is that we get a high vaccination rate before the fall / winter of next year, so that means that all immunization and vaccination approaches need to be accomplished before next fall,” Sahin said.
The vaccine’s developers analyzed 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the US and five other countries.
