The founders of the company that developed the first COVID-19 vaccine approved by the WHO have warned that there will be gaps in supply until the launch of other vaccines.
In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, BioNTech CEO Uğur Shahin said his company is working with its Big Pharma partner, Pfizer, to try to make up for the vaccine shortage.
“At the moment things don’t look rosy, there’s a hole because there are no other approved vaccines and you have to fill this gap with our vaccine. That’s why we’re working with Pfizer now if and how we can produce even more.” , said Shahin.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is expected to approve a vaccine by the modern pharmaceutical company on January 6, while German Health Minister Jens Spahn has also called on the EMA to quickly approve a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, which the UK eliminated this week.
There has been dismay in the EU at the slow pace of vaccination of people. On Thursday, French Health Minister Olivier Véran promised to climb the country’s vaccination boost after being criticized for its slow pace.
Shahin acknowledged that the process in Europe was not “as fast and simple as in other countries.” He erred in the EU’s decision to spread orders between different manufacturers, waiting for more vaccines to be approved quickly.
“It was assumed that many other companies will come with vaccines. It seems that the impression prevailed: we will get enough, it will not be so bad and we have it under control. I was amazed,” Shahin said. While the US bought about 600 million doses of BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine in July, the EU took until November to order half of that amount.
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