11/19/2020 18:00
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 11/19/2020 18:13
The vaccine against the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), created by the American pharmaceutical companies
Pfizer
and German
BioNTech,
could begin to be distributed before the end of the year in the United States or the European Union (EU), declared this Thursday the founder and president of BioNTech,
Ugur Sahin
.
"There is a possibility that we can obtain authorization this year in the United States or in Europe, or in both regions," Sahin said in an interview with the
AFP
news
agency
.
The application for authorization will be filed on Friday with the
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
.
Pfizer had announced on Wednesday that its coronavirus vaccine, made with BioNTech, was 95% effective even in older adults, a percentage higher than expected.
Ugur Sahin the CEO and co-founder of BioNTech said that the vaccine in conjunction with Pfizer could be applied from December.
AFP photo.
"The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to present a vaccine capable of helping end this devastating pandemic," said
Albert Bourla
, CEO of Pfizer.
Meanwhile, Sahin said that "it is possible that we can provide vaccines in December."
"We are working at full speed," he declared.
The
European Medicines Agency (EMA)
is currently conducting a continuous evaluation of the product with a view to its authorization and supplementary data will be transmitted to it "next week".
Hundreds of millions of doses have already been reserved in the world
, and several governments have announced that the first ones will be destined for medical personnel and the most vulnerable sectors.
"If all the actors, including governments, pharmaceutical companies and the logistics chain do a good job,
we can vaccinate between 60% to 70% of the population between now and the
(European)
winter
of 2021," said Sahin.
"If we succeed, we can have a normal winter, without further confinement," added the scientist, co-founder of BioNTech, based in Mainz (in western Germany).
Pfizer / BioNTech has already signed several contracts, especially with the European Union and the United States, and negotiates "with 30 countries" more.
The laboratories speak with "various organizations", including the United Nations, to make "the vaccine available to everyone in the world" as a way to reduce its cost so that it can be accessible in developing countries.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump.
AFP photo.
Sahin, 55, is "very confident" in the safety of the vaccine.
So far "
no serious side effects
" have been found in large-scale trials, Pfizer and BioNTech announced Wednesday.
"
I would reasonably say that the vaccine will protect at least a year, and even longer,
" Sahin concluded.
Days ago, Donald Trump, president of the United States, referred to the announcement made by the American pharmaceutical company that its vaccine is 90% effective.
"
It far exceeds our expectations
. We reached an agreement and invested 1.5 billion dollars in the development of the Pfizer vaccine. Our government is already working on coordinating the distribution," Trump said.
Source: agencies.
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