Uğur Şahin, CEO of BioNTech, said he was “confident” that the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine will work against a new, more contagious mutation of the recently discovered coronavirus in the UK
“Our vaccine is likely to work… relatively high,” Şahin told reporters at Tuesday’s BioNTech press conference, as 99 percent of the virus’s spike protein is the same. However, he said, the companies are conducting tests to be sure and aim to publish results in about two weeks.
Vessels of the vaccine tied for EU countries could leave Belgian warehouses as early as Wednesday, BioNTech Chief Business Officer Sean Marett confirmed at the same press conference.
The companies are currently finalizing the paperwork to start rolling out across Europe, Marett said.
The companies are kept to tight timelines to get the vaccine to all EU countries at the same time – a promise repeated several times by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Commission has previously stated that delivery would start on 26 December, so countries could start vaccination on 27 December; However, the Commission was able to speed up the Member States’ consultation process to accept the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) approval proposal within hours, rather than days.
Marett also said that the EU expects to receive 12.5 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2020. These vaccines will be distributed between EU countries according to population size, and each member state will decide who get the vaccine first.
The companies can deliver 45 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2020, and the U.S. expects to receive around 20 million doses.
When asked how many doses the UK will receive before the end of the year, Marett declined to comment, saying this is handled by Pfizer, a BioNTech partner; But company officials said Brexit would not affect vaccine delivery.
This article has been updated.