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 other vaccines are deployed.
In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin said his company was working with its Big Pharma partner, Pfizer, to try to make up for the expected vaccine deficit.
“At the moment things don’t look rosy, there’s a hole because there are no other approved vaccines and we have to fill that gap with our vaccine. That’s also why we’re now working with Pfizer on whether and how we can they produce even more, ”Şahin said.
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 urged the EMA to quickly approve a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca that the UK eliminated this week.
There has been dismay in the EU at the slow pace of vaccinating people. On Thursday, French Health Minister Olivier Véran he promised to go up the country’s vaccination after being criticized for its slow pace.
Şahin admitted that the process in Europe “was not as quick and easy as it was in other countries.” He blamed the EU’s decision to distribute orders among different manufacturers in the hope that more vaccines would be approved quickly.
“There was the assumption that many other companies would come with vaccines. Apparently, the impression prevailed: we’ll have enough, it won’t be so bad and we have it under control. I was surprised,” Şahin said. While the United States bought around 600 million doses of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine in July, it took the EU until November to order half of that amount.
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