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Source, Reuters
Explaining that he received successful results from the first clinical trials in coronavirus vaccine studies, the professor, CEO of the Germany-based company BioNTech. Dr. Uğur Şahin said that he was sure that the vaccine would end the coronavirus epidemic.
The coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by US-based BioNTech and Pfizer was announced to have achieved 90 percent success.
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper published in the UK, Şahin stated that he was confident that the Covid-19 vaccine they developed would “crush the head of the virus” and end the epidemic that gripped the world in 2020.
In a press release Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech noted that in phase 3 of the vaccine trials, 90 percent of the volunteers prevented the disease from developing, and this rate was better than expected.
However, the question of whether the vaccine is effective in asymptomatic infections has not been answered, as the results of the trial have not yet been fully disclosed.
Saying that he is optimistic on this issue, Şahin said: “If the question is whether we can stop the pandemic with this vaccine, then my answer is yes, because it will have a great effect in providing protection even against symptomatic infections.”
Stating that they were not sure whether the vaccine would trigger a strong enough response in the immune system until the results of the trial studies were announced last Monday, Şahin said: “We now know that the vaccine will defeat this virus.”
Uğur Şahin founded the BioNTech company in 2008 with his wife, Dr. He founded it with Özlem Türeci. Both families emigrated from Turkey to Germany in the 1960s.
‘I think it will prevent the transmission of the virus’
Şahin, 55, said he believes the vaccine will also prevent the transmission of the virus, although it has not been officially tested due to the results obtained on the effect of the vaccine they developed.
Claiming that the vaccine attacks the coronavirus “in more ways than one,” Şahin said: “It prevents Covid-19 from entering our cells. But even if the virus has somehow entered, then it hits the cells on the head of the virus and eliminates it. We have trained the immune system very well to make these two defensive movements. Now we know that the virus cannot defend itself against these mechanisms, “he said.
Stating that some important questions about the vaccine’s effectiveness can be answered in the coming weeks and months, Şahin noted that answering the question of whether it can stop asymptomatic infections can take up to a year.
‘It will provide at least one year of protection’
While in conventional vaccines the genetic information is obtained from the virus and is reproduced in the human cell, in the method known as mRNA, only the genetic code of the virus is sufficient, which is why it is affirmed that the production process of the virus vaccine is shortened by three months.
Sahin says the vaccine development process takes just 10 months instead of years, thanks to Pfizer’s expertise in producing vaccines for large markets and the quick response of health officials who regulate the drugs.
Source, BIONTECH
Uğur Şahin and his wife Özlem Türeci founded the BioNTech company in 2008 with the Austrian oncologist Christoph Huber.
Stating that the answer to the question of whether the vaccine will provide different levels of protection to different age groups will be clear within three weeks, Şahin says that it is not yet clear whether it will have a different effect on different ethnic groups.
Şahin notes that the vaccine will be given in two doses to the arm three weeks apart, thus providing protection for at least one year.
‘A great burden was lifted from our heads’
Şahin says they got the results of the vaccine trials Sunday night, “a big load was lifted off our minds.”
“Drug research should never be a political tool … Hiding information would not be ethical. What matters to us is that we are developing vaccines and not doing politics.”
BioNTech shares rose rapidly after the results were announced on Monday. The value of the company approached 30,000 million dollars. However, Şahin says that money is just “numbers on sheets of paper” for now.
“There will come a time when we will think about what to do next with our money. Often times, people who create something new want to create something new again. We will have to decide what this is, whether it will be a foundation or a special project.”
Şahin explains that when they got the news with his wife and the company’s chief medical consultant, Özlem Türeci, “they sat down for tea and chatted a bit.” “It was a really good feeling to relax,” he says.
