Europe reaches herd immunity this summer

Pfizer, a US partner, and the head of the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which developed the first widely approved COVID-19 vaccine, said Europe could achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus within 3-4 months. ..

The exact threshold required to reach that critical level of vaccination is still controversial, but experts say levels above 70%. Significantly interrupts transmission Of the coronavirus in the population.

“Europe will reach herd immunity in July by August at the latest,” BioNTech CEO Uğur Shahin told reporters.

He warned of this Herd immunity At first it did not include children. vaccine So far, it is only approved for people over the age of 16. A small number of children who become ill with COVID-19 suffer from serious illness and long-term effects.

BioNTech vaccines make up the majority of the doses given in North America and Europe, more commonly known as Pfizer Shot. Vaccination rates rise after a sluggish start..

Sahin has data from people who have been vaccinated Immune response It will weaken over time and may require a third shot.

Studies have shown that the efficacy of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine drops from 95% to about 91% after 6 months.

“Therefore, a third dose is needed to return vaccine protection to almost 100%,” Sahin said.

Although long intervals in some countries, vaccinated people are now receiving a second dose three weeks after the first injection. Sahin suggested that the third dose should be given 9-12 months after the first shot.

“And I’m hoping that I’ll probably need to get another booster every year, or maybe every 18 months,” he said.

Concerns are now being raised that existing vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the virus that are emerging in different parts of the world.

According to Sahin, BioNTech has tested the vaccine against more than 30 variants, including the currently predominant one first detected in the UK, and the shots are good for almost all variants in the lab. It has been found to provoke an immune response. If the immune response is weak, he said it is sufficient without providing accurate numbers.

Asked about the first new variant detected in India, Sahin said the vaccine’s efficacy against it is still under investigation.

“But the Indian variants have the mutations we’ve investigated earlier, and our vaccine works against them, so I’m confident there,” he said.

The company’s messenger RNA or mRNA-based vaccine development work, based in Mainz, benefits from previous research on medicines to treat cancer, as tumors often seek to adapt to evade the immune system. Said Sahin.

“The way our vaccine works is that there are two points of attack,” he explained. In addition to stimulating the production of antibodies, it encourages the body’s so-called T cells to attack the virus, he said.

“The vaccine is very well made and the breakwater is retained. I’m sure it,” Sahin said. “If you need to reinforce the breakwater, do so. I’m not worried.”

The company is investigating reports of cases of heart inflammation in people vaccinated in Israel, but so far no data have been found to indicate an increased risk, Sahin said. In Israel, approximately 5 million people have been vaccinated, primarily with BioNTech / Pfizer shots, making it one of the highest coverage in the world.

“We take everything we hear very seriously,” Sahin said. “The most important principle in drug development is to do no harm.”

BioNTech is expected to receive approval for the vaccine to be used in China in July, he said, working with local firm Fosun Pharma in China.

Meanwhile, BioNTech and Pfizer are working with other manufacturers to increase the production of mRNA shots. This is because global demand still far exceeds supply.

“Our goal was to produce 1.3 billion doses when we started 2021, but now we have increased it to 3 billion doses,” said major pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis, Sanofi and Baxter. I praised you for participating.

His company is in talks to build production facilities in Asia, South America and Africa and will issue special licenses to other “really competent” manufacturers to boost the global supply of vaccines. Maybe Sahin said.

“We don’t want to have a low quality vaccine in Africa,” he added, dismissing the suggestion that the recipe could simply be made freely available.

In response to the fierce criticism that the European Union has failed the vaccine procurement process, Sahin said the block of 27 countries succeeded in coordinating the simultaneous delivery of the first batch to all member states at the end of December. Said it deserves praise.

“Europeans can be proud that they have found a fair solution,” he said, adding that Brock also exported large doses elsewhere.

“It’s useless if Europeans are safe and other countries where the virus is still rampant are constantly kicking out new variants,” he said.

Sahin founded BioNTech in 2008 with his wife, a scientist. Ozrem Turech..Together they decided to Pivot from cancer research Develop Coronavirus In early 2020, we contacted Pfizer, who was vaccinated and had the expertise needed to conduct large-scale clinical trials.

A 55-year-old woman who emigrated from Turkey to Germany when her family was four feels “very good” to hear more and more people finally being able to see the members of the German foreign news agency VAP. Said. Lovers again after being vaccinated with a shot of his company.

Sahin said he soon expected a “new normal” against the virus, “free to move around and most people have very good immune protection.”

Still, some people may not want to be vaccinated or have weak immunity. “And we have to consider these people too,” he said.

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