The CEO of BioNTech BNTX,
has said the German company does not yet know whether the vaccine it has developed with Pfizer will work against the new strain of the coronavirus.
Uğur Şahin said it would take two weeks to complete the lab work required to demonstrate whether the shot, developed with US partner Pfizer PFE,
is effective against the new species.
“We don’t know at the moment whether our vaccine can also protect against this new variant,” Şahin said at a news conference on Tuesday to provide an update on the vaccine. “From a scientific point of view, it is very likely that the immune response from this vaccine can also handle the new virus variants.”
Modifications to the vaccine could be made within six weeks, although they may require regulatory approval, Şahin added.
More than 40 countries have banned UK arrivals amid growing concerns about the spread of the new strain of COVID-19, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said is behind a spike in business in London and the South East of England.
Read: Should you be concerned about the new COVID-19 strain? Here’s What You Need to Know
In a threat assessment of the new strain, published December 20, the European Center for Disease Control said, “There is currently no evidence of an increased severity of the infection associated with the new variant,” but a preliminary analysis in the UK suggests that this variant is up to 70% more transferable than existing variants.
Şahin noted that the new species had nine mutations instead of one, as is more common. But he added that BioNTech had “scientific confidence” that the vaccine would be effective because the proteins of the new British variant were 99% the same as those of the prevailing strains.
His comments came a day after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Commission approved the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccinations in the bloc’s 27 member states.
Delivery of the shot is expected to begin on Saturday, with countries such as Germany, Austria and Italy saying they plan to start vaccinations from Sunday. The EU has ordered 200 million doses of the vaccine, with an option to buy 100 million more.