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Coronavirus: chief executive says testing BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine on new Covid-19 variant
- Ugur Sahin said the shot should be able to cope with a strain first detected in Britain that appears to be more contagious
- He also said BioNTech’s new plant in Germany may be operational in February and produce 250 million doses in the first half of the year
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BioNTech is working flat out with partner Pfizer to boost production of their Covid-19 vaccine, its founders said, warning there would be gaps in supply until other vaccines were rolled out.
The German biotech start-up has led the vaccine race but its shot has been slow to arrive in the European Union due to relatively slow approval from the bloc’s health regulator and the small size of the order placed by Brussels.
The delays have caused consternation in Germany, where some regions had to temporarily close vaccination centres days after the launch of an inoculation drive on December 27.
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“At the moment it doesn’t look good – a hole is appearing because there’s a lack of other approved vaccines and we have to fill the gap with our own vaccine,” BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told news weekly Spiegel in an interview.
A shot from Moderna is expected to be cleared by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on January 6.
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German Health Minister Jens Spahn has urged the EMA to also quickly approve a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca that Britain cleared this week. The EU timeline for that treatment remains uncertain.
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