BERLIN (Reuters) – BioNTech chief executive Ugur Sahin said on Monday he was confident a COVID-19 vaccine developed by his company would be effective against a variant of the coronavirus that has appeared in the UK.
He told Bild TV that the German company would investigate the mutation in the coming days, but that he viewed the issue with “a degree of caution”.
Countries around the world closed their borders with the UK on Monday over fears of a new highly infectious strain of coronavirus infection that is causing chaos in travel and raising the prospect of food shortages in the UK.
Sahin spoke shortly after the European Union removed regulatory barriers to the vaccine, developed in conjunction with Pfizer, which will be launched after Christmas.
The calm note from the CEO regarding the mutation in the United Kingdom echoed the World Health Organization, which warned against major alarms, saying that this is a normal part of the evolution of a pandemic.
Sahin said he had not yet been immunized, but would like to be. He said it was more important for his employees to receive the vaccine so that they could continue their work.
Reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann; written by Tom Sims; edited by Mark Potter