Ugur Sahin, scientist at Pfizer-BioNTech: “Vaccinated people are not contagious”

The CEO and founder of the German biotechnology laboratory BioNTech, creator of the Pfizer vaccine, Ugur Sahin, asserted that “vaccinated people are not contagious”.

With this statement, the German scientist of Turkish origin debunked the worst fears about the possibility that even those who received the inoculation could transmit COVID-19, pushing the end of the pandemic away. This means that the vaccine not only protects the recipient, but also prevents community transmission.

Sahin made this claim during an interview with the German newspaper picture, in which he was asked about a recent study conducted in Israel, one of the countries with the most advanced vaccination plans. The study showed that the number of people who tested positive in the PCR test and therefore potentially infectious, decreased by 92% after vaccination.

“With this discovery, we now also know that if enough people are vaccinated, we can effectively contain the pandemicSahin told Bild.

In addition, he brought up the UK variable of the virus, which worries about its potential for greater contagion: “We know that our vaccine protects against the best known mutations, including B1.1.7”, which, according to him, is demonstrated because “this variant is currently also dominant in Israel”.

With all, did not minimize the risks of the new strains, and ensured that there was an over-possibility that a third booster dose would be applied who specifically targets these variables; possibility that Pfizer and BioNTech have been studying for months. “If we want the virus to be harder to spread in the future and we want to reduce infections, we need to step up vaccination more frequently, maybe every year or every year and a half. “Sahin explained.

“We can learn a lot from the current pandemic. If we prepare well now, (in the future) we will be able to respond even faster, develop vaccines faster and produce enough doses faster ”, added for Picture.

The study – which was published in the journal New England Journal of Medicine– in which approximately 596,618 people participated between December 20 and February 1, 2021, showed that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was 94% effective.

Specifically, between 14 and 20 days after the first dose and seven or more days after the second injection, lThe estimated efficacy of the drug was 46% and 92%, respectively, against documented infection. In the case of an asymptomatic case, 57 and 94%; 74 and 87% for hospitalization and 62 and 92% for a seriously ill patient, according to the data collected Europa Press.

Sahin, 55, began his university studies in Cologne (western Germany), where his father worked in a Ford factory, and completed them at the university hospital in Homburg (south).

With his wife, Ozlem Tureci, considered that their research projects were “too risky” to be able to develop them in the existing laboratories, which motivated them to create theirs..

They founded their first biotechnology company, Ganymed Pharmaceutical, in 2001, which they sold in 2016. They created there 2008 BioNTech, their second company, with which they develop a new generation of individual therapies for cancer patients.

BioNTech Account with currently 1500 employees, a large amount of economic resources mainly from private investment, and has created one of the most effective coronavirus vaccines in the world.

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