BERLIN (Reuters) – BiogurTech chief executive Ugur Sahin said on Monday he was confident a COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by his company would be effective against a variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain.
He told Bild TV that the German company would investigate the mutation in the coming days, but that he saw the matter with “a degree of sobriety”.
Countries around the world closed their borders in Britain on Monday over fears of a new highly infectious coronavirus strain, causing chaos in travel and raising the prospect of food shortages in the UK.
Sahin spoke shortly after the European Union removed regulatory hurdles for the vaccine, developed jointly with Pfizer, to be launched after Christmas.
The CEO’s call for calm on the UK mutation was echoed by the World Health Organization, which warned of a major alarm, saying it was a normal part of the evolution of a pandemic. .
Sahin said he had not yet been immunized, but he would like to be. He said it was more important for his employees to receive the vaccine so they could continue to do their job.
Reports by Hans-Edzard Busemann; writing by Tom Sims; edition by Mark Potter