Biontech founder: "Need pragmatism when distributing the vaccine"

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The founders of the German vaccine manufacturer Biontech and inventors of the first vaccine against the coronavirus, Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, are in favor of more pragmatism in the vaccination campaign.

“As innovators and problem solvers, we can only give advice,” said Türeci on Thursday evening in Berlin at the presentation of the Axel Springer Awards to the research couple.

She emphasized that she did not want to specifically address the situation in Germany when the CEO of Axel Springer, Mathias Döpfner, asked about the sluggish progress of vaccinations in this country.

In general: "Pragmatism is - and we see that in several countries - definitely a mechanism that we should all live in this pandemic," said Türeci.

"We were pragmatic in developing our vaccine and we need this pragmatism in the distribution of the vaccine as well."

Türeci expressed understanding that the pandemic fight in Europe is not going smoothly.

"We have to keep in mind that this is a health crisis of unprecedented size and speed," she said.

"It is the first time for all countries and institutions - also with regard to adjusting their processes, their systems, their decision-making structures to this unprecedented situation." can customize than others.

Şahin emphasized that the EU is now one of the regions in the world that has ordered the most vaccine - around 600 million doses - from Biontech.

"We will be able to deliver 260 million cans to the EU by the middle of the year," he said.

In January, the Biontech boss expressed his astonishment in an interview with “Spiegel” about the hesitant vaccine order from the EU.

"Apparently the impression prevailed: We'll get enough, everything won't be so bad, and we have that under control," said Şahin at the time.

“That surprised me.” In the meantime, the EU Commission has placed additional orders.

Is the self-vaccination against the coronavirus coming?

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Şahin also considers unconventional steps such as self-vaccination to be conceivable in the long term.

“People take insulin themselves every day,” he said.

In principle, this could also be applied to the corona vaccination.

To do this, one has to understand the vaccines and their side effects even better.

"At the end of the day, we need to investigate the number of potentially serious allergies," said Şahin.

"We have to make sure that precautions are taken to react if something happens." But that is only possible if there is enough data on the vaccines.

"We have to analyze the pros and cons," he said.

The two researchers think it is conceivable that regular vaccinations against the coronavirus and its mutants may be necessary in the future.

Biontech is preparing for a scenario in which mankind will have to live with the virus in the long term, said Türeci.

“We are preparing for what is known as boosting,” said the researcher.

Boosting is the term used to refer to booster vaccinations that ensure that the body remains immune to the virus in the long term.

"We have to wait for the data on how long the immunity will last from our vaccine," said Türeci.

"This is how we find out how often we need a boost, that could be once or twice a year, we'll see."

Vaccine could be quickly adapted to mutations

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The new mRNA technology, on which the Biontech vaccine is based and which Türeci and Şahin helped develop, enables rapid adaptation to new virus variants.

It is entirely possible that mutations occur against which the current version of the Biontech vaccine no longer works, but the company is also preparing for this.

"We monitor all variants that occur: the Brazilian, the British, the South African," said Türeci.

"So far we have very promising data that our vaccine covers these variants."

If a new form of virus emerges, in which the vaccine no longer works, the mRNA platform can be adapted very quickly.

“This is something that we are already discussing with regulators,” says the researcher.

If such an adjustment is necessary, the question arises whether the new vaccine has to go through the lengthy and complex test procedure again from the beginning.

The award winners Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci with Friede Springer (left) and Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner (right)

Source: via REUTERS

Originally, Türeci and Şahin developed the technology to be able to treat cancer.

Döpfner said that in the future Biontech could develop into a “biotech platform” analogous to tech platforms such as Google, Amazon or Facebook, which could produce far more than just a vaccine against the coronavirus.

"The purpose of the Axel Springer Award is to promote courage and entrepreneurship, creativity, but also innovation and initiatives that improve our society," said Döpfner.

“It was therefore very clear that there couldn't be a better choice as the winner for 2021 than the two founders of Biontech.” After all, their invention is currently saving millions of lives around the world.

"Remained humble despite their success"

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The Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz also praised the scientific achievement of the founding couple in his laudation.

"What makes Biontech so special is a committed team with world-leading know-how and two founders who have put all their hearts into this project and who have remained modest despite their success," said Kurz.

“In a world full of noise and speculation, such an attitude is refreshing.” The result is “world changing” and very impressive.

As a surprise guest at the award ceremony in Berlin, the professor of immunology at the ETH Zurich and friend of the founding couple, Hans Hengartner, praised the importance of the scientific breakthrough that Türeci and Şahin achieved.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister and CDU leader Armin Laschet also extolled the two founders.

"I am particularly proud to congratulate a child in our state, Mr. Şahin," said Laschet.

He remembered the parents of the Biontech founders, who originally came to Germany as guest workers and should actually have returned to their Turkish homeland.

"We were very lucky that that didn't happen," said Laschet.

"This is my message to right-wing populists: The heroes in the pandemic are the same people who discriminate against you in everyday life." In addition to the virus, extremism and hatred must also be combated.

CDU boss Armin Laschet praised the achievements of the founding couple with a migration background

Source: dpa / Bernd von Jutrczenka

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recalled that Türeci had said that one of the reasons for her success at Biontech was that as many women as men worked there.

The company of the two founders has also exemplified how theoretical research and development can be converted into a finished product.

This ability is still too often lacking in Europe.

“You are an inspiring example of how this can be achieved,” says von der Leyen.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged the Biontech founders to “continue to use their talent and knowledge for the good of humanity”.

"We were attacked by a virus and it was your genius that enabled us to defeat it," he said in a video message.

Israel is one of the countries whose vaccination campaign with the Biontech vaccine is already furthest advanced.

Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci are the sixth recipients of the Axel Springer Award.

In the past, the award went to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon inventor Jeff Bezos, Tesla boss Elon Musk and US economist Shoshana Zuboff.

The prize is awarded once a year.