BioNTech Warns EU COVID Vaccination Could Be Interrupted by Serum Storage Issues

The German company BioNTech, which co-developed the first Covid-19 vaccine approved in the European Union with Pfizer, has warned that immunization in the EU may be disrupted by stocks until other vaccines are approved.

BioNTech is working with Pfizer to supplement vaccine production.

The German startup led the race to obtain a vaccine, but the serum produced reached the EU with difficulty due to its relatively cumbersome approval by the European regulator.

The delays surprised Germany, where some regions were forced to temporarily close vaccination centers a few days after the start of the campaign (December 27).

“At the moment, it doesn’t look good, there is a gap because there are no other approved vaccines and we have to operate this gap with our own vaccine,” Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, said in an interview with Spiegel, quoting The Guardian.

The vaccine developed by the American company Moderna is expected to be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on January 6.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn has urged the EMA to swiftly approve the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, approved this week by the UK. The EU timetable for this is not set.

Sahin said the Pfizer vaccine, which uses messenger RNA, should be effective in the new coronavirus variant initially detected in the UK, which appears to be more contagious.

“We are testing to see if our vaccine can also neutralize this variant and we will know more soon,” he said.

Regarding the recent mutation, he said it may be necessary to optimize the vaccine, and this would take six weeks and should receive a new approval.

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