BioNTech / Pfizer Vaccine Maker: Life will return to normal next winter



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The impact of the new vaccine for Covid will be significant during the summer and life should return to normal next winter, said one of the creators of the vaccine produced by the BioNTech / Pfizer companies, writes BBC.

Professor Ugur Sahin, co-founder of BioNTech, also spoke of the fact that the mass transmission of the virus would decrease, resulting in a “dramatic reduction of cases”.

Last week, BioNTech and co-developer Pfizer said that preliminary tests showed that their vaccine could prevent more than 90 percent of the population from being infected with Covid-19.

Almost 43,000 people participated in the tests.

In an interview with the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One, Professor Sahin said he hoped a more detailed analysis would show that the vaccine would reduce human-to-human transmission and stop symptoms from occurring in someone who made the vaccine.

“I am very confident that person-to-person transmission will be reduced with such an effective vaccine, maybe not 90%, but maybe 50%, but we must not forget that this could also lead to a drastic reduction in spread. of the pandemic “. , he said.

The UK expects to receive 10 million doses of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine by the end of the year, with another 30 million doses ordered.

The vaccine, which has been tested in six countries, is given in two doses three weeks apart.

Older people in health centers have priority, followed by medical personnel and those over 80 years of age. Then the population will be classified by age.

After Monday’s announcement of the first effective vaccine, Sir John Bell, a professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, suggested that life could return to normal in the spring. “I may be the first to say that, but I will say it with some confidence.”

However, Professor Sahin says it will take longer.

If all goes well, he said, the vaccine could be distributed “later this year, early next year.”

He said the goal was to deliver 300 million doses worldwide by April, which “will allow us to have an impact.”

He said the big shock would come later: “Summer will help us because the infection rate will go down and essentially we will be able to vaccinate more until next fall / winter or earlier.”

Professor Sahin said it was critical that all immunization programs be completed by next fall.

The two companies plan to request that the vaccine be approved urgently by the end of this month.

A vaccine and better treatments are considered the best way to escape the restrictions imposed in the world.

About 12 vaccines are in the final stages of testing, but this is the first vaccine that works.

The vaccine uses an experimental approach, injecting part of the virus’s genetic code, to kick-start the immune system.



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