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Berlin / Mainz (dpa) - The founders of the Mainz corona vaccine manufacturer Biontech, Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin, have been awarded the Axel Springer Award 2021.
The couple accepted the award on Thursday evening in Berlin.
"It is clear that there could be no better choice for the year 2021 than the two founders of Biontech," said the CEO of Axel Springer SE, Mathias Döpfner.
In the acceptance speech, Türeci said the award shows that science can make a difference.
“We felt it was our duty to make a contribution to combating the pandemic.
The award is an award for everyone who has answered the call to action and made the impossible possible to make a Covid-19 vaccine possible in less than a year. "
Türeci referred to the consequences of Corona.
"The pandemic has hit mankind to an unprecedented extent, it affects the world on numerous levels from society to the economy, from physical to mental health," she said.
"At times like this, people need meaning to cope with the challenge, they need information to understand what is happening, when and why."
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The scientist sees the media and publishers as playing a special role.
"Never before has the need for highly qualified, transparent and knowledge-generating media been greater," said Türeci.
Never before has it been more important «to give people orientation and to serve as a basis for every human being to form their own opinion».
The undoped prize of the Springer Group (“Bild”, “Welt”) has been awarded for the sixth time.
This annually recognizes people who, according to Springer, are particularly innovative, create and change markets, shape culture and at the same time face their social responsibility.
Previous winners included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla boss Elon Musk.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210318-99-881221 / 2
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