The founders of the company that developed the first WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccine have warned that there will be gaps in supply until other vaccines are rolled out.
In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin said his company was working with its Big Pharma partner Pfizer to make up for the expected vaccine shortage.
“At the moment things don’t look bright, there is a gap because there are no other approved vaccines and we have to fill this gap with our vaccine. That is also why we are now working with Pfizer on whether and how we can do that. produce even more, “said Şahin.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is expected to approve a vaccine by the pharmaceutical company Moderna on January 6, while German Health Minister Jens Spahn has also urged the EMA to quickly approve a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and which the UK approved this week.
There is consternation in the EU about the slow pace at which people are vaccinated. Thursday, the French minister of Heath Olivier Véran promised to step up the country’s vaccination coverage after it was criticized for its slow pace.
Şahin admitted that the process in Europe was “not as quick and clear as in other countries”. He was guilty of the EU’s decision to spread orders across different manufacturers in the expectation that more vaccines would be approved soon.
“There was an assumption that a lot of other companies would come up with vaccines. Apparently the impression prevailed: we’re getting enough, it won’t be that bad, and we have it under control. I was amazed,” said Şahin. While the US buys up about 600 million doses of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine in July, it took until November for the EU to order half that amount.
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