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If coronavirus vaccinations are rolled out widely, life could return to “normal” by next winter, one of the scientists behind the leading coronavirus vaccine said on Sunday.
Ugur Sahin, the Turkish co-founder of German company BioNTech, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that “this winter will be tough” without any major impact from vaccinations.
In collaboration with the American giant Pfizer, BioNTech is developing the main candidate in the global search for a vaccine. Israel has ordered millions of units of the vaccine, hoping that the first shipments will reach the country by January.
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“If all goes well, we will start delivering the vaccine at the end of this year, or early next year,” Sahin said.
“Our goal is to deliver over 300 million doses by April next year, which could already have an impact,” he said.
The infection rate will then decrease in the summer, he predicted, adding that it is essential that there is a high use of vaccination by the fall.
“I have no doubts it will happen,” he said.
A number of vaccination companies are working to increase supply, he said, “so that we can have a normal winter next (year).”
The logo of German company Biontech is pictured at the company’s headquarters in Mainz, western Germany, November 12, 2020 (Daniel ROLAND / AFP)
Sahin and his wife Ozlem Tureci founded BioNTech in the city of Mainz, western Germany, in 2008. BioNTech is now worth $ 25.8 billion (€ 21.8 billion), more than the largest German lender Deutsche Bank.
After identifying promising vaccine plans, the company formed a partnership in March with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
The announcement last Monday that their vaccine was over 90% effective in trials led to newsletters around the world and blew up stock markets and hopes.
On Friday this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had signed an agreement with Pfizer to purchase millions of coronavirus vaccines.
As part of the deal with Pfizer, Netanyahu said Israel would receive 8 million doses of the vaccine, enough to inoculate 4 million Israelis. Netanyahu expressed hope that Pfizer would start supplying the vaccine in January, pending approval from health officials in the United States and Israel.
However, the Ynet news site reported that the deal does not oblige Pfizer to provide the vaccines and only states that it intends to do so “according to the circumstances.” If it does not provide them, the company will reimburse Israel’s advance.
Pfizer and BioNTech confirmed the deal with Israel in a joint statement Thursday evening.
Although Pfizer’s announcement of the results of its trials so far has raised optimism that inoculations against the novel coronavirus may soon be available, its storage and transport requires extremely cold temperatures, creating intense logistical complications. .
In addition to its deals with Moderna and Arcturus, Israel has signed an agreement with Italian biotech company ReiThera to supply a vaccine if and when it is developed, and is in talks with Russia to purchase a vaccine that the country is developing. . Its own biological research institute is also working on a vaccine candidate.
Earlier this month, Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center said it had pre-ordered 1.5 million units of Russian vaccine and would seek approval from the Ministry of Health to use the product, pending the final results of the ongoing tests.
Since the start of the virus outbreak, 323,741 people have been diagnosed in Israel with the virus and 2,732 have died, according to Health Ministry figures released on Sunday evening. There are 7,629 active patients, of whom 304 are in serious condition.
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