can we already booster shots distribute and vaccinate young children, when in some countries hardly anyone is protected against the corona virus? “By 2022 there will be enough vaccines to vaccinate the whole world,” said Ugur Sahin of BioNTech.
A year ago we did not know whether a vaccine would come on the market, now many have already been vaccinated twice. But that doesn’t mean the pandemic is over, say Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, the medical couple who co-founded BioNTech with Christoph Huber, the German biotechnology company that launched the first SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. We have long hoped that vaccines would bring the pandemic under control. Have we underestimated the virus? ‘New. The virus continues to spread almost exclusively among people who are not protected,” says Sahin.
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A year ago we did not know whether a vaccine would come on the market, now many have already been vaccinated twice. But that doesn’t mean the pandemic is over, say Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, the medical couple who co-founded BioNTech with Christoph Huber, the German biotechnology company that launched the first SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. We have long hoped that vaccines would bring the pandemic under control. Have we underestimated the virus? ‘New. The virus continues to spread almost exclusively among people who are not protected,” says Sahin. In your new book, Project Lightspeed, you tell how you managed to develop a vaccine in record time. Are you mad at all those vaccine denials? Tureci: Not at all. As doctors and scientists, we believe that everyone should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to be vaccinated. Should governments do more to ramp up the campaign? Sahin: As a society, we still have about 60 days to avoid a hard winter. We must do what we can to mobilize as many people as possible in these two months. How do we get unvaccinated people on board? All ideas are welcome. The delta variant is much more contagious than initially feared. The BioNTech vaccine also has a much harder time with this mutant than with the previous variants. Sahin: Fortunately, the delta variant is not a super mutant. The variant spreads very effectively, but for the time being responds well to the vaccine. How good exactly? Conflicting reports are circulating, especially from Israel, about how and when the vaccine’s protection is waning. Türeci: First of all, protection against infection decreases with time, protection against serious illness lasts longer. This is due to T-cell immunity, which is lacking in much research data. Sahin: When infected with the delta variant, many virus particles are produced more quickly and a higher antibody level is therefore required than with the original virus. At the same time, the amount of vaccine-induced antibodies decreases after about six months – and more quickly if the second vaccine was given after just three weeks. That is what the data from Israel shows, where there are many breakthrough infections. In Europe, a second dose was usually given after six weeks. So we can expect the vaccine’s protection to last longer here. Türeci: Recent studies from Great Britain show that the protection against infection by the delta variant is still 74 percent. But the booster shot, the third vaccination, is needed sooner than we had hoped. So you are now arguing for a booster shot? Sahin: Without a booster, we can’t control the delta variant. However, governments have not yet made recommendations about a third shot. Sahin: I expect a lot of study results in the coming weeks that show that a booster is important. The Israeli Ministry of Health has published data showing that after a third vaccination, protection against infection with the delta variant is more than 95 percent. If things go badly, will we get a fourth shot in a few months? Türeci: It won’t be needed until much later. A third dose leads to very high antibody concentrations – the same or higher than after the second dose. Do you already see new mutants emerging against which even a booster does not work, and which therefore require a new vaccine? Türeci: Not so far, but we must remain vigilant. It would be dangerous to rush into action and panic change world production at each variant. That is why experts are carefully examining whether new vaccines are needed. If a variant is determined to be resistant to the current antigen, the mRNA vaccines can be rapidly modified. Many parents are afraid that a variant will soon arise that can also affect children severely. When can we expect a vaccine for children under the age of 12? Türeci: In the coming weeks, we will be submitting the results of our research in five- to 11-year-olds to governments worldwide and applying for vaccine approval for that age group. Critics believe that the vaccination of children in industrialized countries should wait until the vaccine is distributed in parts of the world where people are hardly protected, such as in Africa. Sahin: The number of vaccine doses is no longer a limiting factor. By 2022, there will be enough vaccines to vaccinate the entire world. We have been able to increase our production capacities enormously. This year we will be able to produce three billion doses via our network, next year four to five billion doses will be feasible. Other suppliers no longer have production problems. In Europe alone, vaccine makers will reach a capacity of 500 million doses per month next year. Türeci: We want to be able to supply the whole world. By the end of the year we can have corona vaccines produced for Africa, and in Africa. It is precisely there that the resistance to vaccination appears to be great. Sahin: That’s a problem. But at the same time, in discussions with various countries, we notice that there is great interest not only in getting vaccines, but also in producing them locally. That’s an important difference. Although the quality of the vaccine produced there must be as high as in the industrialized countries. BioNTech initially focused on cancer research. Betting everything on a new infectious disease was pretty risky. You could have closed your business if the vaccine hadn’t worked. Türeci: That’s a moral issue. We had two options: carry on as if nothing had happened, or be brave and take this big step. Doing nothing seemed much more risky – for our staff, for the company and for the patients in the clinical trials. Are you now able to develop new medicines much faster? Türeci: There are a lot of players involved in the launch of a new drug, from the suppliers to the regulatory authorities. The corona vaccine was, of course, a large model project where we could learn how to work together more effectively, faster and less bureaucratically. Sahin: As a society, we need to think about how important drug development is to us. How can we ensure that new medicines are developed faster and reach patients more quickly? One of your next big projects is a drug against malaria. Does that work? Sahin: Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from malaria and tuberculosis. We have been working with many experts for decades and may be making rapid progress. We want to start our first clinical trials with a vaccine against malaria in 2022.
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