BERLIN (Reuters) – BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said on Monday he was confident that a COVID-19 vaccine, co-developed by his company, would be effective against a variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain.
He said on Bild TV that the German company would investigate the mutation in the coming days, but that he viewed the matter “with some sobriety”.
Countries around the world closed their borders to Britain on Monday over fears of a highly contagious new strain of coronavirus causing travel chaos and increasing the prospect of food shortages in the UK.
Sahin spoke shortly after the European Union cleared regulatory hurdles for the vaccine, which was co-developed with Pfizer, to be rolled out after Christmas.
The CEO’s calm about the British mutation echoed the World Health Organization, which warned of widespread alarm, saying it was a normal part of the evolution of a pandemic.
Sahin said he hadn’t been vaccinated yet, but would like to. He said it was more important that his employees get the vaccine so they can keep doing their jobs.
Reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann; written by Tom Sims; edited by Mark Potter