BioNTech founder suggests vaccine could lead to 'normal winter' in 2021
Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of BioNTech, warned the current winter "will be hard," but the next one could be much smoother "if everything continues to go well" with his company's coronavirus vaccine candidate.
Sahin told the BBC on Sunday that the vaccine, which is being co-developed with Pfizer and was found to be 90 percent effective in an interim trial analysis, likely won't immediately bring down infection numbers if it's unveiled later this year, but he believes "we could have a normal winter" in 2021. The plan, he said, is to deliver 300 million doses worldwide by April, which should begin to curb the spread of the virus, and after that it will be "absolutely essential" to "get a high vaccination rate before autumn/winter next year."
Sahin said he's "confident" that will be the case thanks to the number of vaccine companies helping Pfizer and BioNTech increase the supply. Read more at BBC and Politico. Tim O'Donnell
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
FTC bans fake online product reviews
Speed Read The agency will enforce fines of up to $51,744 per violation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
States sue TikTok over children's mental health
Speed Read The lawsuit was filed by 13 states and Washington, D.C.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Amazon ending 'Just Walk Out' grocery checkout
Speed Read In its place, the company will let customers scan while they shop with Amazon Dash Cart
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Justice Department bites Apple with iPhone suit
Speed Read The lawsuit alleges that the tech company monopolized the smartphone industry
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
House votes to force TikTok to sell or face US ban
speed read The House passed a bill to ban TikTok on national security grounds unless it sells to a non-Chinese company
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Apple kills its secret electric car project
Speed Read Many of the people from Project Titan are being reassigned to work on generative AI
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cellphone use may be lowering sperm count
Speed Read Electromagnetic radiation could be affecting male fertility
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Nasa reveals first findings from asteroid that could explain origins of life
Speed Read Sample from Bennu has been found to contain an abundance of water and carbon
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published