BioNTech Boss Believes Pfizer Vaccine Works For The New COVID-19 Variant

JAKARTA - BioNTech boss Ugur Sahin believes the vaccine he made with Pfizer will be effective against the new variant of the corona virus. However, Sahin said it needs more tests before he can really confirm its efficacy.

So far Pfizer is the only vaccine approved for use in the UK. This vaccine is also being launched in the United States.

As quoted by Sky News, Sahin said his belief had a scientific basis, because the new form of COVID-19 shared about 99 percent of the protein with the previous virus. "The possibility of our vaccine working is relatively high," he said.

But Sahin admits more research is needed on these mutations. "But we will know it is [effective] only when the experiment is complete and we will need about two weeks from now to get the data," said Sahin.

Sahin said, if adjustments are needed, BioNTech will take about six weeks to make. And of course, regulatory approval will also be needed again.

The German company BioNTech was founded by Mr. Sahin and his wife Ozlem Tureci in 2008.

Sahin first learned of the new coronavirus in January. He realized then that his work in the field of cancer treatment could apply to vaccine research.

To make a vaccine for COVID-19, BioNTech has deployed 500 workers. They then received support from the US pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer and Chinese drug maker Fosun.

For your information, until now Sahin himself has not received his own vaccine. He prioritizes his employees to be inoculated first so they can continue their work.