[ad_1]
BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin said Thursday that the leading Covid-19 vaccine his German company is developing with Pfizer could be rolled out before the end of the year in the United States or Europe.
“We are working at full speed,” he told AFP in a Zoom interview, confirming that the companies planned to request authorization for the emergency use of their jab in the United States on Friday, while European regulators will receive another batch of data. ” next week”. .
“There is a possibility that we may get approval from the United States or Europe or both regions this year,” said Sahin, 55, who is also BioNTech’s CEO.
“We can even start delivering the vaccine in December,” he added, “if we all work very closely together.”
The BioNTech / Pfizer injection and another being developed by the American firm Moderna have taken the lead in the global search for a vaccine, after large-scale test data this month showed their injections were about 30% effective. 95 percent against Covid-19.
The twin advances have raised hopes of ending a pandemic that has infected more than 56 million people and caused more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide since the virus first appeared in China late. from last year.
The United States, the European Union, and a host of other nations have already placed orders for hundreds of millions of doses of the main candidate vaccines in development.
Healthcare workers, caregivers, and those deemed at high risk for severe Covid-19 will be the first in line to take the hits.
‘A normal winter’
Speaking from the West German city of Mainz, Sahin said that if all the actors involved (governments, pharmaceutical companies and vaccine logistics companies) “do a very good job,” then “we can be successful in vaccinating the 60 to 70 percent of the population fall 2021. “
“And when we do, we could have a normal winter. Without another closure. “
Beyond the US and the EU, more than 30 countries are in different stages of negotiations to secure the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine, Sahin said.
With growing concern that poor nations may be left behind in the fight, Sahin said BioNTech was speaking with organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation about distributing the vaccine “around the world.” and finding ways to reduce its cost.
The price of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine is expected to be around $ 20 (17 euros) per dose, with a booster injection to be taken 28 days after the first.
Experimental technology
Sahin and his wife Ozlem Tureci, both children of Turkish immigrants in Germany, founded BioNTech in Mainz in 2008.
They set out to fight cancer using an experimental technology known as “mRNA,” before the pandemic changed its focus.
No mRNA vaccine has ever been approved, but both BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna’s efforts are based on it.
The technology uses synthetic versions of molecules called “messenger RNA” to hack human cells and convert them effectively in vaccine manufacturing factories.
Other contenders in advanced stage tests such as AstraZeneca / Oxford University and Johnson & Johnson are using the traditional approach of injecting people with modified viruses to trigger an immune response.
Sahin said he was “very confident” that his vaccine was safe, a day after Pfizer and BioNTech announced that a full study of their trial, involving about 43,000 volunteers, more than 21,000 of whom received the vaccine, showed no serious side effects.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a former scientist who has been praised for her handling of the coronavirus crisis so far, said Thursday that “we don’t want to take any chances” with a vaccine, and that the latest news was encouraging.
Sahin predicts that many more mRNA-based vaccines and drugs will come, potentially transforming cancer treatments.
‘Second generation’
Sahin said that he and his wife “of course” planned to receive their blows as soon as possible.
In a nod to vaccine skeptics, he said the only option was to continue to provide “answers, information and transparency.”
He predicts that many people will want to be inoculated once a vaccine is available, numbers that would only increase when those people shared their positive experiences.
A big question that remains unanswered is how long the protection of the vaccine lasts.
Sahin estimates that it could be “at least a year, if not more,” but emphasized that more data was needed to reach a final conclusion.
A key challenge with the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine lies in distribution, as it must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sahin said that Pfizer and BioNTech would use special refrigerators to store and transport the vaccine in the first few months.
But they are already developing a “second generation” of the vaccine that could withstand warmer temperatures, he said.
SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY NEWSLETTER
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
